


Unconditionally

by athletiger



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Obadiah Stane, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Family, Bottom Tony Stark, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, Face-Fucking, M/M, Murder, Omega Tony Stark, Omega Verse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shifter Peter Parker, Shifter Tony Stark, Supernatural Elements, Top Steve Rogers, Werewolf Tony, Werewolves, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:41:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23137867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athletiger/pseuds/athletiger
Summary: Tony is an omega werewolf in a world supernaturals are hated and hunted. He belongs to Stane’s pack, isolated and forced to do things he hates to do. Apparently, he's also Steve's mate.Problem is, Steve is an alpha human working for SHIELD, the Supernatural Hunter Investigation, Elimination, and Logistics Division, and he hates all supernatural creatures.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 130
Kudos: 283





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serenity514](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenity514/gifts).



> Hallo, it's a new tig fic. This was taken from a prompt by Serenity in the PotS discord server:
> 
> Born a werewolf, Tony has been alone since his mother died and has no interest in a pack thank you very much. This changes when he meets Steve. It slams into him all at once: _Alpha, Mate, Mine_. 
> 
> Problem: Steve is human.
> 
> With the Human Rights Act turning any human into a supernatural being with intent is a one-way ticket to being hunted and in Tony case a silver bullet in between his eyes.
> 
> Well. I took the prompt. I mashed it into pieces. Let me take you on a quest as to what I came up with. I'm posting real time, which means I probably, _probably and will not guarantee_ , will be posting once a month for this fic.
> 
> Thanks a lot to swisstea for the massively quick beta when I said I was gonna go kamikaze without a beta for the first chapter. Also thanks a lot to avengersnewb, who've been my number one supporter for this fic and who have kept pestering me to write this fic. Also, thanks to ven who titled my fic. Thanks to the PotS discord for bearing with my yelling about this fic. Enjoy!
> 
> Most of this fic will be unbeta'ed - we die like men.

The evening sun cast a golden glow below, the summer heat washing over the Malibu mansion. Tony, in a rare moment, was away from his workshop; instead, he stood barefoot on his balcony, gazing into the horizon, letting the warmth seep into his bones. He sipped his cup of coffee.

A bird flew close to the water, its wings barely skimming over the ocean. Tony smiled.  _ This _ was the reason why he wasn’t still in his workshop. He got dragged out of his workshop to be shown a new trick.

The trick was that the bird could pluck a fish from the water. When Tony saw that, he rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stop grinning all the same. He placed his coffee cup upon the bannister beside him and leaned over the balcony, watching as the phoenix flew back to him. The phoenix dropped the writhing fish next to him and then shifted.

“Mister Stark! Did you like my new trick?” Peter grinned. His skin and feet were wet from the dip in the ocean, dripping water onto Tony’s balcony. Tony huffed out a laugh before he bent down and picked up the fish.

“Cute trick,” Tony indulged him before he whacked the fish lightly against Peter’s cheek. Peter squawked in response, taking a few steps away from the assault, and Tony tossed the fish over the railing again. He laughed at the faux-dejected look on Peter’s face, patting him on the head. “You smell like fish and ocean. Go take a shower.”

Peter flung himself at Tony, wrapping his arms around his torso and pressing his face against Tony’s chest. Peter nuzzled his shirt, and the overwhelming stench of seaweed filled Tony’s senses. Peter gave him a cheeky grin. “Now you smell like ocean too.”

Tony gagged, but he was grinning, pushing Peter away. “You’re disgusting,” he said fondly. “Go take a shower.”

Once Peter headed back inside, Tony’s smile fell until all that was left was the remnant heat from the sunset. It was getting chilly, now that the sun was gone, and he was chilly with it. He dreaded this day, as he did every month. He could feel the primal urge to shift under his skin, buzzing through his veins.

Tony headed back to his workshop, holding onto his sanity by a very thin thread. At least down here he wouldn’t hurt anyone. The screens were still up as he left it when Peter dragged him away from this room. He flopped into his chair heavily.

His holoscreen was turned to CNN, where they were showing footage of protesters holding signs of “Down with the Preternatural!” and “Supernaturals are under the Law, not ABOVE it!” Tony exhaled as he glanced at the screen, biting his cheek as he observed the angry faces of the people that marched on the streets, chanting their displeasure. 

_ “Protesters have taken to the streets to show their displeasure of supernatural and preternatural beings, lobbying for laws like the Human Rights Act. In a surprising show of solidarity, both Republicans and Democrats have agreed that the supernaturals and the preternaturals have gone unchecked for so long; it is just a matter of how strict the new laws will be. We have here with us Rick Santorum, longtime political activist, and…” _

Tony dropped his hammer as the call of the moon became too strong for him to maintain himself in his human form, and he hissed when the iron burned his skin. But like always, the injury healed quickly, turning from a heated red to pink to unblemished in a matter of seconds. He stared at it, scowling. He wished that was the extent of his supernatural power, the fact that he only healed quickly and nothing else. 

“Turn it off, J,” he commanded. CNN disappeared, leaving a silence in its wake that left Tony alone to his thoughts - it wasn't a complete silence though. The buzz of white noise hung in the background, coming to the forefront as he began to shift.

He didn't care for his power at all, curse or a blessing it was. He wished he could be human.

Not hunted. 

Human thoughts wouldn’t last long; already he could feel his body changing and his mind slipping away from him. He cried out in pain and tumbled out of his workshop chair. Shifting, no matter how natural it was for him, never failed to hurt and ache: he lost his human skin, his bones elongated and warped, and canines grew from his mouth. Fur sprouted down his back; his hands and feet warped and curled forward into claws. Tony landed on all fours on his floor, fully shifted into a wolf. He looked towards the windows again, and he saw himself in his hated form. He was a skinny, emaciated creature, fur a gunmetal grey and eyes glowing gold. He snarled when he saw himself, mouth drawn back and teeth extended. He dug his claws into his workshop floor and bared his teeth at the sight of himself, all furry and ugly. 

Once, a long time ago, being a supernatural was a revered and sacred status. It used to be a symbol of being better than a human; they were worshipped. But that was before Tony’s time. Now, being a supernatural meant that the hunter became the hunted, and the humans ruled the world with their bullets and their laws. Now, it was keeping one’s supernatural status on the down low or die with a silver bullet between the eyes. There was a reason why, during the full moons, Tony hid in his workshop, full privacy engaged, citing his workload to disappear and work through his lycanthropy.

Or at least he wished he could hide in his workshop when the full moon was overhead. After all, Tony really did love living - if the people knew he was a werewolf, he would be crucified. He hated himself for what he was, being forced every month to follow the call of the moon, alone in his workshop, howling in utter despise and loneliness. Tony crawled forward, seeing the image snarling back at him. It wasn’t vanity that kept him from looking away; it was punishment for him being a supernatural - a wolf, and an Omega one at that.

The Stark pack that Howard led as a natural Alpha leader before his parents died was now Obadiah Stane’s pack.  _ He _ got his alpha status by blood and violence, killing anyone that came in his way to the top.

Indeed, there was a reason why the supernatural were hated besides the fact that they were supernatural: they killed more freely, and got away with it. The supernatural should have a balancing act, and they do. They did. The laws they had created for themselves seemed to fall to the wayside as centuries passed, leaving only evil in its wake and an utter hatred from those who weren’t supernatural. Human law found it difficult to get supernaturals to stand trial, what with the way that they could get out of most situations without repercussions. That is, if they even got caught in the first place. Because of their extra freedom, humans hated them, creating a rift between the non-supernaturals and the supernaturals until all there was was a war between them.

Despite this, Howard was a good leader of his pack, keeping them in line and following human rules and laws. From him, there was no trouble. Not only because he lead with a good hand, he, as an Alpha, was able to stay in his human form even through the full moons. No human would have guessed that he was supernatural. Still, as much as he was a good Alpha leader for the pack, Tony could remember the disappointment when Tony changed into a full wolf during the first full moon after his fifteenth birthday. He wasn’t an Alpha as Howard expected and wished.

Alphas could resist the call of the moon. Betas couldn’t, but they had enough strength to retain most of their human forms. Their skulls thickened, their ears sharpened, and they became hairier during the full moons, but they generally still had some human thought in their form. Omegas could only change into their full wolf form when the call of the moon beckoned them. Omegas were nothing without an Alpha to guide them during the full moon. They ran on instincts and commands, striving to please their Alpha. Always. Tony clung to his last semblance of human sanity, hoping, just hoping, that he wouldn't fall prey to becoming a mindless animal. All that was left of his human form washed away in the receding tide, leaving an Omega wolf with a need to please.

Obie didn’t have the same qualms as Howard did. He freely used his supernatural status to his advantage without caring about collateral damage. Tony hated it; he couldn’t do anything about it either.

Tony laid on the floor, panting. He looked at the full moon. He waited. In this form, his ears pricked from side to side, listening to the softest sounds. White noise, bearable in his human form, nearly consumed him in its entirety, overwhelming him. Tony whined softly, reaching up with his paw to fold his ears forward in hopes that the sound would muffle just slightly. It didn’t work, and Tony whined again, resignedly submitting to the noise. His ears honed in on the  _ click, click, click _ of shoes walking down the stairs to his lab.

“JARVIS, let me in,” Obie commanded, voice muffled only by the door between them. Tony closed his eyes and turned away as the door opened. There was something evil that he felt even in his wolf form. In this state, though, he didn’t know what it was, just the focus that his Alpha was here and he needed to please.

“Hello Tony,” Obie said. Tony could hear a frown in his voice, even though he was turned away and not looking at his Alpha. “Now, is that the way to greet your Alpha? You know the rules.”

He sounded disappointed, but there was also the underlying veiled threat in his voice to obey or else. He needed to obey. Tony whined slightly, turning his head and opening his eyes. He focused on his Alpha. 

“Are you going to be a good boy?” Obie asked. He stretched his arm out, and with it, a new scent wafted over to him, something that smelled more floral and unnatural and artificial. The pale pink scarf dangled over his palm. It was overwhelming, his nose sensitive as it was, and he turned away again, trying to get rid of the smell from his nose.

Obie made a deep noise of displeasure. “You know the rules, boy.” 

Even in his wolf form, he knew: he made his Alpha unhappy, and that was the worst form of punishment, knowing that his Alpha was disappointed in him. Because of it, Tony slunk towards him, head bowed.

“You know what to do,” Obie said simply. After all, this wasn’t the first time he had done missions for his Alpha. “And maybe when you return, you’ll be rewarded.”

_ Reward. _ With pleasing his Alpha, he would be rewarded. He moved past his Alpha towards the open door. With every inhale, his nose tickled with the sharp scent of perfume; he rubbed his paw over his nose but he couldn’t get rid of the smell. He whined, looking back at the glittering eyes of his Alpha.

Obie raised an eyebrow. “You know what happens if you don’t obey, Tony,” he warned. He crossed his arms. “All of this, all the friends you have, that can all go. It’s your choice: kill her, or face the consequences.”

Tony ducked his head lower and whined again, a low, pitiful sound that emitted from his mouth. JARVIS opened the door for him, unbidden, taking him out of the house and letting him out into the streets of California. It didn’t matter that he would have to travel far in order to do what Obie bid him to do. He didn’t have a choice: hunt and be hunted. This was for his Alpha. Nothing else. He  _ needed _ to please his Alpha. He craved it. For so long he went without any reward; all it had been were punishments every month because he failed. He didn’t know why he failed - he followed all the rules perfectly. Still, Tony, under Obie’s disappointed gaze, faced the dread of being essentially worthless, unable to be anything but a desperate wolf needing praise.

Tony was small enough to pass off as a large wolf-dog hybrid, therefore he escaped most people’s attention in this form. Outside, the California breeze greeted him, but he ignored it as well because it wasn’t what Tony was looking for. Tony howled at the moon before his body urged him to run.

Run he did, his legs flying over the ground while he hunted. His instincts took over, taking him wherever he needed to go. Obie had tasked him, and he would comply. California might have been big, but the urge to obey his Alpha was even bigger, and there was no place for a target to hide in this state.

Come morning, as the full moon waned, Tony returned to himself. He moaned, laying on the floor for a moment before he got up and headed towards his bathroom. In the mirror, he stared at himself in his human form. Tony’s eyes were barely red-rimmed, but he felt more weary than what his body showed. He was shirtless, and he could see the scars that marred his skin. His mouth was bloody, and he could taste a piece of trachea stuck between his teeth. Tony shuddered when he recalled his jaw clamping down on the woman’s throat, feeling the vibration of her scream abruptly cut off when his teeth pierced the skin of her neck and ripped her apart. In his wolf form, he was guided more by instincts. It should be forgivable - he did this under his Alpha’s orders; he couldn’t help himself. But, it didn’t stop him from regretting it when the call of the moon waned and his human mind was returned to him. When he could no longer stand the sight of the blood that stained his face, Tony looked down at the smoking poker and the small pot of aconite beside it. He picked the poker up.

He gasped as he felt the heat pressed against the skin of his hip; the scent of burning flesh curled up until he gagged on the smell. But he gritted his teeth and forced himself through the pain. Before the brand could disappear, he pressed a handful of aconite powder against his skin, bearing against the agony.

When it was all done, Tony looked at that line, beside all the other tally marks. It burned, the pain grounding him. It was a punishment, a reminder that he wouldn’t forget, ever. Tony looked at the mirror again and looked at the raw wound that stained his skin, stopped in its healing by the aconite powder that was buried into that crevice. There were four tally marks before; there was one more now.

“JARVIS, turn on the shower,” he said hoarsely. His throat felt raw, as if he’d been crying for hours. He couldn’t bear looking at himself anymore. He hated who he was. He looked away, gripping onto the sink more tightly. “You know the temp.”

JARVIS affirmed, “Yes sir. I would also like to let you know that Miss Potts is on her way up.”

“Send her to the foyer, I’ll be out when I finish washing away the blood.” Tony finally stepped into the spray, shivering as the freezing water hit his overly hot skin. “And tell Obie that…”

_ I’m not going to play your games anymore, _ was on the tip of his tongue, but Tony couldn’t say that aloud. He sighed, watching as the dried blood and aconite washed off, water pooling at his feet. His hand curled into a fist, and he pressed it against the wall. It was too tempting to punch the wall, but that resulted in fixing, and Tony didn’t have the money to fix it. He could technically go through SI for repairs, but Obie would get wind of it, and that resulted in punishment. The pain from his wolfsbane tattoo was fading away, but he knew that the scar would remain on his skin and in his mind. He let out a dry sob.

“Sir?”

Tony closed his eyes. “Belay that, J. Cancel the message.”

“Yes sir.” In the ensuing silence, Tony could almost feel the judgement from JARVIS - it was silly, JARVIS was an AI. His AI that he created. There shouldn’t be any feelings or expressions from him. Still, Tony couldn’t help but feel like he was subject to JARVIS’s disapproval. He sighed again and exited the shower. JARVIS shut the water off as he left.

He especially hated the way Obie could lord over him like this, making Tony do his dirty work by killing. But if he didn’t, Obie would use his weakness against him.

He could never do that to Peter. So he did what he had to do. Tony sighed, drying off his body. He slipped into his sweats before he headed over to Peter’s room first. He opened the door with a gentle  _ click, _ peering inside to see the boy still soundly sleeping. He exhaled in relief. It seemed as if he didn’t know what Tony did last night, and that was for the best. Gently, he closed the door again.

Pepper was waiting by the windows when Tony walked into the foyer, smoothing his hair down after throwing on his shirt hurriedly. She was turned, staring at the Pacific Ocean. Her body was loose, relaxed; it was a good sign. It meant that Tony wasn’t in trouble. Her easy posture meant that he could relax, just a bit; she didn’t know anything.

“Hey Pep,” Tony said.

Pepper turned around and smiled. “Mister Stark,” she replied. Her carefree and innocent smile made it easier to bear the weight of his guilt of taking a life. The ache wouldn’t go away, not ever, but at least he could breathe slightly better, at least for now, when he could stop thinking about it and focus on her instead.

“How was your vacation, Miss Potts?” Tony moved towards the kitchen. Behind him, he could hear the sharp clicking of Pepper’s heels as she walked across the linoleum floors. The binary clock on the wall declared the time at only nine in the morning; still, he poured himself two fingers of Napoleon Brandy and knocked it back. Almost immediately he could feel the burn that went down his throat. He hated the taste, and he couldn’t get drunk on alcohol unless it was spiked with wolfsbane. For him, this was just another way to pitifully wash down the guilt.

“Excellent. I loved San Francisco,” she replied smoothly. “Thank you for your recommendation of visiting Benu.”

Tony poured another two fingers of brandy. “You’re welcome. San Francisco is beautiful, but I have a special love for Malibu. Drink?” Pepper shook her head, and Tony shrugged. He could feel the thinly veiled disapproval with her look, but Tony ignored it. He needed it, if he were to get through the day.

He couldn’t help but play up his reputation. He gave her a shit-eating grin. “Obviously, however, Norcal girls will never live up to the Socal girls.” 

Pepper replied dryly, “Of course.” 

“Of course, none of them will ever compare to you.” Tony waggled his eyebrows and she frowned. Still, he could see the reluctant amusement by the way the corners of her lips twitched up despite his leer, and he counted that as a win. “I should buy a house in Malibu, get away from all this, maybe a vacation there. Sounds like a plan: get a house in Malibu, away from all the bustling crowds of people, completely unlike New York, have pretty girls hanging off of my arms every night. I’d be the rage of the party. But of course, none of them will ever compare to the beach and the ocean breeze, the warm sand under your toes and all. Maybe I’ll take you there someday.”

“It sounds like a very nice place,” Pepper said.

Tony nodded. “It is indeed.” Tony turned around to grab a coaster. As he did so, he slipped some wolfsbane into the brandy from a small, unmarked flask that he hid behind his cognac. With this drink, he sipped more slowly, and he could feel the burn down his throat. The drink was affecting him now in the way alcohol couldn’t before. With the burn lingering, he asked, “What’s on my schedule for today?”

He was tempted to ask Pepper to cancel all of his appointments; he didn’t want to deal with people, especially not after he had to kill for the name of his Alpha. And it stung that he craved the tiny wave of a high that came with the  _ “good boy” _ that came from Obie’s lips and a single pat to the head when he crawled back to him, nose filling the metallic tang of blood. It hadn’t even had time to dry on his muzzle by the time he had gone home.

Such a mocking pat was a pitiful and mocking attempt of a reward, but Tony craved the touch; they were few and far between, as if it was a commodity. But the Betas wouldn’t touch him - they were forbidden to. Only the pack Alpha and an Omega’s mate could touch an Omega, and Obie rarely gave him the touch he needed. Any other touch would be unbearable.

Pepper replied, not even bothering to look at the schedule. Tony’s proud of her. “You’re meeting with the military today in Afghanistan. The flight takes off at fourteen hundred. Mister Stane has asked me to send you a message to ‘wow the brass’ or else.”

“The flight takes off when I get there,” Tony muttered, taking another sip of his wolfsbane-laced brandy. “Obie can suck on a popsicle stick for all I care. SI makes the best weapons for the government, and they all know that. My job isn’t to kiss the brass’s ass; it’s to bring our soldiers home safe and sound.”

“R and D had submitted a review request of their project they have been working on,” Pepper continued.

Tony snorted. “If they bothered to do their job right in the first place, then they wouldn’t need me to look over their piss-poor job of a drawing they call a final draft. If they didn’t continue changing three variables at a time, they could probably figure out what the root cause of their decrease in effectiveness is. But I have idiots for an R and D department who can’t think for themselves. Can we just fire them?”

“Unfortunately that would be bad for morale sir,” she replied. “Furthermore, a mass layoff would tank the SI stock even further. In fact, there’s a board meeting to talk about the latest dip in SI stock.”

“Cancel it. I’m not going to that meeting and kissing up to them. I produce the best work for SI and we deliver the best quality items on the market. Innovation isn’t always an upward trend, and it’s Obie’s job anyway to pamper the pockets of our board members.”

“Done,” Pepper said, tapping rapidly on her tablet.

“Anything else?”

When Pepper didn’t say anything for a while, Tony looked at her. He felt light-headed and dizzy, the wolfsbane affecting him similarly to how he supposed a human would react to alcohol. In his drunken state, it looked as if she was biting something back, but he wasn’t sure. He blinked. “Miss Potts?”

“Nothing,” she replied finally. Tony squinted. It seemed as if there was a knowing glint in her eye, as if she knew his secret. There was no way that she knew though because outside of the pack, no one knew that Tony was supernatural. No one but Rhodey, who found out about his secret in college when he forgot about the full moon during an engineering binge and transformed in front of him. Rhodey wasn’t part of Obie’s pack, but Tony trusted him with this secret.

When no other answer was forthcoming, Pepper’s eyes staring steadily back at him, Tony nodded. His head spun as he did so. “Okay then.”

Just as Pepper opened her mouth, giving him a slight nod that signalled that the conversation was coming to a close, there was a set of footsteps that pattered down the hallway. Tony turned, watching as Peter rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Morning Mister Stark, Miss Pepper.”

“Morning Peter,” Pepper said, smiling.

“How was your vacation?”

“Fine, thank you for asking.”

“Did you get me anything from SF?”

Tony sighed harshly. “Peter, Pepper’s not here to get you—”

“It’s alright Mister Stark,” Pepper interrupted. “It was on your dime anyway.”

Peter brightened as Pepper pulled out something from her purse. “Ghirardelli chocolate?” he exclaimed. “Thank you so much!”

“Don’t eat it all at once,” Tony warned as Peter held the bag of chocolate close to his chest. 

He stuck out his tongue. “You won’t be able to stop when you leave for your trip,” Peter said.

“I’m siccing JARVIS on you,” Tony said severely.

“JARVIS likes me more than you, he’s not going to stop me from eating too much chocolate.”

“For the sake of your teeth, it’s best not to gorge on sweets, Peter,” Pepper interjected before Tony could go into a rant. “Best not give Mister Stark here a conniption.”

Peter smiled and nodded. “Yes ma’am. Thank you again Miss Pepper!”

“Get ready for school!” Tony shouted as Peter fled.

“It’s Saturday!” Peter yelled back, followed by the sound of the door slamming.

Tony sighed. “Kids,” and he looked at Pepper’s indulgent face. “Don’t ever have them, just warning you.” 

She snorted. “You’re one yourself,” she said, ignoring Tony’s offended “hey!” Then she straightened. “Is that all, Mister Stark?”

“That is all, Miss Potts,” Tony replied. As Pepper turned to leave, Tony thought about calling her back, to confess to her of what he’d done, so that he wouldn’t have to carry the entire weight of his guilt. Because even with her here, easing some of it, the guilt still ate away at him like a vice. The nightmares consumed him, choking him. But they weren’t even nightmares. Before he knew what was happening, it just slipped out of his mouth. “Pepper?”

She turned around, the front door already open. “Yes, sir?” she asked curiously.

He panicked. Pepper shouldn’t know about his supernatural status, and if Tony had his way, Pepper would never find out either because those who were found to be sympathetic to the supernatural would be persecuted too. She was too good for him, loyal to a fault, and she didn’t need to be part of his non-human life. Because if she knew, she would be hurt. And he couldn’t bear her hurt, what with the very few precious friends that he had. Tony shook his head, almost desperately. “Please tell Happy that his service isn’t needed. I will be driving to the airport myself.”

“I believe I can’t arrange that for you, sir,” she replied.

“What are the chances that I can give him the slip?”

Pepper smirked. “I’d give you a twenty percent chance if you drive the Tesla.”

“The Tesla?” Tony echoed, before he chuckled. “Where’s the fun in that? So quiet, and I can’t even take the top off. I bet I can beat him with the Porsche.”

“I’ll take that payment in a new pair of Louboutins, sir,” Pepper replied without missing a beat. “The Tesla is faster with the fact that you can go from zero to sixty miles per hour in three seconds. The Porsche doesn’t have that type of performance. Furthermore, Happy is better at the wheel than you are.”

“Thanks for your faith in me,” Tony said dryly. “What do I get if I win?”

“Have a good trip, Mister Stark,” Pepper laughed as the doors closed behind her, and Tony smiled. While the guilt of taking someone’s life with his jaws still ate away at him, Pepper’s presence eased the guilt in a way that no longer consumed him, and he could finally breathe. Tony closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew, JARVIS was speaking. “Sir, I would recommend that you make your departure now if you are to make the flight on time.”

“The plane’s not going to leave without me,” Tony said, eyes still closed.

“Indeed sir, but I believe that if you don’t depart soon, Colonel Rhodes will call you incessantly until you do arrive.”

“That’s not a punishment,” he snorted. “You know I love honeybear. He can call whenever he wants.”

“He threatened to use Apple products last time you met with him.”

He sat up and glared. “Now that...he wouldn’t dare. Apple products aren’t even that great. I can’t believe he would betray me like that. He knows that Jobs has nothing on my stuff. Why would he even suggest that?” 

JARVIS’s voice was distinctly amused when he replied, “Perhaps it would be prudent that you leave then sir.”

“I don’t need your sass, J.”

“Of course.”

“I should donate you to the local high school. I think they would appreciate you,” Tony griped, but he got up anyway. He looked down at himself and decided that a change of clothes was in order. As he walked to his room, he said, “Don’t forget who made you.”

“Indeed. Shall I let Mister Hogan know that you will be out shortly?”

“Yes.” Tony paused. “On the other hand, what did I tell Pepper earlier?”

“You made a bet with Miss Potts that you would win with your Porsche, sir. However, she recommended that you take the Tesla.”

“Get the Porsche ready, J. I’ll be out momentarily.” Tony buttoned his shirt, looking at himself in the mirror as he did so. He hated the way his eyes looked back at him, haunted and full of guilt, hopeless and pained. He looked away, buttoning the rest blindly.

“Very well sir. Shall I order a pair of Louboutins as well?”

“You know what? Make that two pairs. I’m feeling generous today,” Tony replied, plucking his suit jacket from the hanger and tossing it over his shoulder. “And give her a bonus too. I’m going to win the race, but I’m nice and generous like that. Maybe she’ll have more faith in me once I beat Happy.”

“Very well Mister Hogan is waiting for you. He says that he wants a new gun when he wins the race, sir.”

Tony laughed. “Oh, ye of little faith. Everyone thinks that I’m going to lose. And you? What demands will you ask of me, J? Want a new line of code, a new bot?”

“My only wish is that you shall be safe during your journey should you win.”

Tony’s breath hitched in his throat. It was such a funny thing, for JARVIS to ask for his safety in Afghanistan, when the danger was here in his backyard. He couldn’t escape from Obie and his controlling ways, but when he would be in Afghanistan, he would be far enough away from his control so that he could breathe a sigh of relief, however short it may be. Rhodey was going to be there to protect him in the best way he could. He couldn’t do that here. Tony said thickly, “Such a sap for an artificial intelligence there, huh JARVIS? Say more stuff like that, and I’d assume that you’re a real person. But thank you. Take care of DUM-E and U in my absence.”

“Of course sir.”

Happy was waiting for him by his car as Tony walked outside. Tony grinned. “Are you ready to get your assed kicked, Happy?”

“The odds are against your favor, boss,” Happy replied. He spun a set of keys around his extended pointer finger before he tossed it towards Tony. Tony caught it. “Keys to your Porsche sir. Although I do believe you have a better chance of winning if you took the Tesla.”

Tony huffed. “It comes down to the driver, Happy, not the car. Gun’s waiting in the workshop when I get back. Ready to get your ass kicked?”

“I believe that’s yours, sir,” Happy replied smoothly, slipping into his car and gunning the engine. He rocketed out of the driveway, leaving Tony to chase after him.

“Cheater,” Tony laughed, throwing all of his werewolf instincts to follow him. With all his focus towards beating his driver, he could pretend, at least for a moment, that his heart didn’t ache from the death that he perpetrated. The wind roared in his ears as he let his wolf side in him guide him through the sharp turns of the highway. He was free, for now at least, and he loved this, the fact that he could get away from all his troubles.

Rhodey was waiting for him as he pulled up onto the airstrip with a loud  _ screech. _ He had an eyebrow raised when he saw him. "You're on time," he said. 

"Is that really surprising?" Tony retorted. He needed some semblance of normalcy, but even his banter just felt slightly off. Murder threw him off his game, and he had to hide it unless he wanted to be crucified for something so illegal.

"For you? It really is. Who are you and what have you done to Tony?" Rhodey followed Tony back into the plane. The door closed behind them. 

Tony gave him a mocking laugh. "You think you're so funny." 

Even though his back was turned to him, he could still hear the laughter in Rhodey's tone. "I know I'm funny." Then he sobered up. "But really, are you okay? It's really unlike you to follow a schedule or anything."

Tony may trust Rhodey, but even he couldn't protect Tony from what he'd done if he knew. It was one thing to be a werewolf; it was entirely another to be part of a broken system where the supernatural were above the law. If he knew...Tony didn't want to even think of the repercussions that came from it. "Peachy," he said succinctly. He couldn't tell him this secret, if only to protect him. Because if Rhodey pushed, if Tony said any more than that, it would be more than trouble from the law. He knew Obie was worse than the law. Rhodey looked as if he wanted to push. He wasn't going to give him that chance. "Just nervous for the presentation." 

It was such a shallow lie, but telling him that Tony murdered people, albeit unwillingly, would be so much worse. Thank God Rhodey hung onto the lie. "It's your presentation. Your stuff works. You probably did it in your sleep. This is just formalities and a scare tactic for our enemies. There's nothing to be worried about." 

"Yeah," he murmured. His fingers twitched for a drink. He resisted for a minute before he pressed the call button. "Drink?" 

"To deal with you? Please." 

It was easier to fool his friend when he had a few drinks within him. Tony himself didn't avoid the wolfsbane drinks, letting himself fall into the burn and the daze so that he could forget everything just for a few hours. And for a few hours, he could content himself with this: being with his best friend, the only human who knew of his secret, imagining that Rhodey could still save his ass. It was a nice dream, but a fleeting one at that; he couldn’t bear to think the truth. It was easier to live in the memories and the lies.


	2. Chapter 2

His head was pounding as he stepped out into the desert sun, squinting despite the sunglasses that shaded his eyes. Still, a hangover never stopped him from accomplishing what he needed to do, and his task was, in Obie's terms, wow the brass. He couldn't disobey that order even though he was on the opposite side of the world. He stretched out his arms dramatically. "I present to you," he announced, grinning with his media winning smile, "the Jericho." It was his best work to date; he was proud of it because it would end the war faster, bring Rhodey home sooner. For just a time, he could avoid thinking about Obie because he was with his best friend instead, and a work of art he was proud of. Tony's hair was windswept from the presentation; it was a heady, powerful feeling to show it off. _They_ appreciated it in a way that Howard never did. Even Obie gave him a calculated look whenever he showed him anything.

Tony's grin died down when he thought about Obie. He couldn't trust Obie, but Obie didn't need his trust either. Obie owned him, and he couldn't escape from his control because Omegas were nothing, had nothing. Tony's chest ached again. His fingers itched for another drink, but there were no drinks in the Fun-vee, and all Tony had was the company of three soldiers, all human, protecting him. He wanted to laugh at the irony: Tony was a dangerous creature, albeit one that no one knew because Obie was smart enough to keep him under the radar, and he was being protected by the guns he created and wielded by non-supernaturals.

So busy with his inner turmoil, he missed the warning signs that could have prevented everything that came to be. But then again, he probably wouldn’t have because their scents were all masked when they surrounded them. The Humvee in front of them stopped, forcing the Humvee he was in to come to a halt too.

“What the hell is going on?” his driver muttered, right before the Humvee in front of them exploded in a fireball. The resulting shockwave rolled over them in a heatwave, and Tony gagged as he inhaled the hot air. Then, the car door crumpled, and the acrid scent of blood filled the air. Tony’s ears were still ringing from the blast.

Tony’s heart threatened to beat out of his chest as the car doors were ripped away one by one and the metallic tang of blood overwhelmed his senses. He was alone in the middle of dead American soldiers, surrounded by hostiles. He turned to one side, still aching from the whiplash. Red eyes stared back at him. _Alpha._

“No,” he whimpered. He couldn’t hear himself, but it didn’t matter. He stared back at the cold, hungry eyes, and as the wolf prowled closer, a predator towards his prey, it spurred him into terrified action. He shifted, snapping the seatbelt that held him to the seat, and he ran out of the Humvee on all four legs. Howls rose out from behind him, and he ran faster.

An omega on the run was bad - it spurred an alpha’s instincts to chase after him. But staying there was worse because then he would be dead meat. He ran across the desert despite the fact that his equilibrium was all shot to hell; at least he had a fighting chance when he ran, however small that chance was. He couldn’t stop; he wouldn’t stop, but he chanced a look back at the many wolves that chased him. Those eyes were all but red. Tony put on a burst of speed, running even faster to get away from them. But so focused on what was behind him, he failed to see the threat in front of him until he tripped and landed over it. Then, he sprawled ungainly on the hot sand, panting hard. Time slowed down as he turned his head towards the pack of Alpha wolves closing ground. It seemed inevitable, with the fact that he was an Omega wolf, being chased by Alphas, that nothing good would come after. Resigned, his eyes slipped down.

“Stark” was written on the side of it, and he stilled. As the cries of the wolves grew louder and closer, he scrambled back, away from them, away from his own missile…

And his world faded to white.

His body burned when he woke up, the agony so vicious that he couldn’t even scream. He couldn’t breathe, and he couldn’t curl up to roll away from the pain. Tony wanted to die with the way that the fire encompassed him, but there was a slight breeze that washed over him before a cold, damp towel pressed against his forehead. Tony forced his eyes to open into slits. There was a blob in the shape of a human hovering over him, but in the dim light and his blurry vision, he couldn’t make much out.

“Stop struggling,” the voice said, pressing lightly, “You’re going to hurt yourself even more Mister Stark, and your supernatural healing factor isn’t doing its job right. I think you inhaled too much wolfsbane, but I can’t do anything because the Alpha pack didn’t give me any supplies to help you heal. You need to purge that yourself.”

He couldn’t comprehend. Even though he wasn’t thinking clearly, or even at all, there was some instinct to fight against the bonds that held him down, to breathe through the fire. He inhaled the flames and screamed, like a wounded animal falling to its basest defensive instincts. There was no escape, and he was too weak to break the bonds that held him down.

“Stop!” the voice said, but Tony didn’t listen. He needed to flee, get out of this. It was all wrong, wrong, wrong... 

The flames swallowed him up, and he succumbed to the darkness.

Every time he awoke with any amount of lucidity, it was pain and hell, blurry eyes and a raging storm. Tony wanted to give up, but something stopped him from doing so. Death didn’t want him yet, and all he could do was breathe through the unbearable pain in his chest.

He slipped back into unconsciousness.

And Tony was awake. Dried tears made his face sticky, and his mouth was rough. There were pins stabbing his lungs every time he breathed - it was like he had a diminished lung capacity. He forced his stiff neck to move to find the source of the pain, bringing his hand to graze the bandages that covered his chest.

A hand stopped him. “I see you’re awake, Mister Stark,” a voice said. Tony blinked, looking up at the man who touched him.

“You know, you’re not supposed to touch me,” he rasped. He almost nearly said, _because you’re not my Alpha,_ but he stopped himself just in time. He didn’t know whether the man knew.

The man gave him a bland smile, but he didn’t move his hand away. “Extenuating times call for extenuating circumstances,” he said. “I may not be pack, but my touch helped calm you down.”

Tony held his breath, but the man continued knowingly, “You flashed your eyes at me.”

That admission should have made him panic, but Tony was too exhausted to do anything but just stare at the man in shock, not even bothering to move his hand away. But he wasn’t wrong about that fact that the touch calmed him. Even though the touch felt _wrong_ because he wasn’t pack, Tony couldn’t deny that his panic only simmered instead of consumed him. Tony swallowed, but he let the man place his hand gently back to his side. “What’s wrong with me?” he asked finally.

“Shrapnel to the chest, poisoned with wolfsbane,” he answered. “The Ten Rings told me to patch you up and didn’t give me any tools. I had to make do with what I had. You didn’t heal properly, and I don’t think you _can,_ not here.”

Now that Tony wasn’t fighting for his life, he could now see that he was in a cavern, only illuminated by the fire on the other side of the room. A nail dug relentlessly in his back, and he shifted slightly to get away from the annoyance, which shifted the wires that went into his chest. “What’s this?”

“Electromagnets. It was the best I could do to prevent the shrapnel from reaching your heart.” Tony traced the wires from his chest until he found the other end, connected to a car battery. He inhaled. It was painful with the foreign object in his chest, but there was no other choice he had. 

“I wouldn’t try to shift if I were you,” the man warned, but the warning came too late as Tony closed his eyes and tried focusing on shifting. If he could do so, he would be able to heal faster.

He couldn’t do it, and he was panting hard at his exertion. It _hurt,_ in fact. His skin felt like it was trying to pull apart, and his mind was aching.

“I can’t shift,” he bemoaned. It was as if he was missing a part of himself with the fact that he couldn’t tap into his wolf side, and that was a horrifying thought. He was so much more vulnerable as a human, and that made the situation a whole lot scarier.

“No, you can’t,” the man confirmed. “Not with all the wolfsbane in your body.” He looked regretful, and he brought over a cup of water. He helped Tony up slightly, and Tony struggled not to let out a sound of pain, but a slight strangled noise made it past his lips anyway when a flare of pain in his chest radiated up and down his body. The man gave him a pitying look. “Here, drink. Slowly now. You’re still very weak.”

Tony took the cup from the man’s hand. His own were shaking badly. Some water spilled over the rim. The man, perhaps recognizing that he wouldn’t be able to give himself a drink, wrapped his hand around his hand and brought the cup up to his lips. Tony hated feeling weak, but he had no choice. The water poured into his mouth, wetting his parched mouth. When the water was gone, the man pulled away. Tony drew his eyes back to the man hovering over him. “Who are you?”

“My name is Yinsen.” When he was sure Tony wasn’t going to move any further and hurt himself, he stood up, knees cracking. He looked old, tired, broken, but still, there was some strength in him as well. He moved closer to the fire, taking a bucket with him. “We’ve met before, once.”

“I...I don’t remember.”

“I don’t expect you to. You were very drunk at that time.” 

“Why am I here?”

Yinsen stared at him. “Do you remember anything?” he asked.

“Bits and pieces.” Tony frowned. “I think there was a ransom video at some point, but I’m not sure. Everything is very foggy.”

“Understandably. You nearly died.” Yinsen mused, “I don’t know the real reason you were kidnapped, but you are a very high value target, and an omega werewolf too.”

Tony’s breath caught. “You don’t think…” he couldn’t finish the sentence. Finishing the sentence would be too horrifying to think about.

A small shrug, a frown. “I don’t know,” Yinsen said lowly, honestly.

Tony hoped that he wouldn’t have to bond with his captors. That would be a punishment even worse than captivity. He shuddered, and the low aching in his chest turned into sharp stabs of pain. He gasped, struggling to get his breath back. Even this injury was nearly too much for a werewolf to take. In the ensuing silence, the fire crackled, and then there was a _screech_ by the door. Yinsen urged Tony up, and Tony hissed as his wound jostled unpleasantly, but they were on their knees when the door slammed open. Tony dropped his eyes, gazing at the floor as multiple footsteps marched in.

Someone was shouting at him in a language he didn’t know, and Tony cringed at the tone. Even though he couldn’t see him, the sheer Alpha-ness the man in front of him emitted stole the oxygen in the room, and not in a good way. If Yinsen was right, that they were being held by a pack of Alphas, and unmated ones at that, there was no way Tony would get out of this unscathed. Beside him, Yinsen replied softly before he addressed Tony in English, “They want weapons.” The Alpha said a few more words, and Yinsen translated, “They want the Jericho.”

“No,” Tony breathed, finally looking up. Because even though he was an omega, he would _never_ let terrorists take his work for their benefit. His eyes flashed gold, earning a red in return, but he wouldn’t bow down to their demands. _“No.”_

He may have not spoken their language, but they knew exactly what he meant.

Yinsen looked at him. “They’re going to get what they want at any cost,” he said.

Tony looked at him. “They can try.” He turned back to the Alpha. It was a suicide mission, refusing, but he didn’t care. “You want the Jericho? You can’t have it!”

Yinsen dutifully repeated it, and the Alpha’s eyes flashed red. He snarled; Tony snarled back. _For Rhodey._

The Alpha barked, and two soldiers came forward. They picked Tony up between them, ignoring the way Tony struggled. He needed to shift, get away from all of this…

Tony gasped as his chest radiated pain, and he hung limply between the two soldiers gripping his arms tightly. He didn’t shift. What should have come so naturally to him was now very out of reach, and it was like he was missing a limb. His wolf...it was like his wolf was gone, leaving him human.

And although he hated his wolf, this missing presence was worse than anything he ever experienced. He let out a cry of despair, just before they settled Tony into a chair and strapped him down.

“Jericho!” the Alpha growled at him, eyes flashing red.

Tony bared his painfully human teeth at the Alpha. “Over my dead body,” he said slowly. With his recalcitrant tone, there was no question what he said. 

They placed the cattleprod upon his naked inner thigh, and Tony let out an ear-piercing scream.

When they were done with him, he was still twitching with the after effects of electrocution as they dumped him back into his prison. He couldn’t stop the small pained cries coming out of his mouth.

“Mister Stark,” Yinsen said worriedly, coming over to help him.

“I’m okay,” Tony said, but he let Yinsen prop him up all the same. He looked down at his bandaged chest and the battery that was dropped next to him. “That battery might not be though.”

“What did they do?”

“Electrocution.”

Yinsen reared back. “With your heart, and the fact that _this_ —” he pointed at Tony’s chest, “—is electromagnetic, it’s like you want to kill yourself!”

Tony scoffed bitterly, “Well, what is there to live for if I do survive?”

Yinsen gave him a hardened stare. “Your mate?”

“I don’t have one.” Tony looked down. It was true: he didn’t have a mate. He had an Alpha, and a shitty one at that, one who was willing to use anybody and everybody for his own agenda. He had been in hell for years; what was the point of going back, when he was only going to flee from the hell of this to the hell of the pitiful thing he called a pack and the hell of facing justice under the Human Rights Act.

Yinsen was silent for a moment. Then he asked, “You know, the Ten Rings killed my mate and my children. They took them out into the village square, with all the others. Firing squad. I was spared because I was a doctor.” He pressed a shaking hand to his chest. He looked at Tony with tears in his eyes. “There’s a gaping hole in my chest where my mate bond was, but I’m still living because that’s what my mate would have wanted me to do. She was a doctor too, a doctor for the supernatural. She could have died many times over with the way that our race is hated, but she did her job anyway because that was what she needed to do. I’m carrying her legacy, no matter how much it hurts.”

He struggled to compose himself. “You know what she told me once? She said that every werewolf had a mate. I was lucky to have her. She made me very happy.”

“I don’t deserve happiness,” Tony mumbled, shaking his head. “I’ve killed people.”

“By choice?”

“Obie made me.”

“Then it isn’t your fault,” Yinsen said. “You deserve a second chance.”

Tony laughed bitterly, but didn’t bother to reply. He didn’t believe Yinsen - he didn’t think he deserved a second chance. He had no way of escaping. He went from one hell right back to another, and he didn’t know which hell was worse. Each one was terrible in their own way. But there was also a frisson of hope within himself at the prospect of knowing that there was a mate who was waiting for him. He let the fire of hope burn within him before he tamped it firmly down. No, he couldn’t.

But he could help Yinsen escape. Tony may not deserve to live, but Yinsen did - there was a mission for him to accomplish, an admirable one. “Okay,” Tony said aloud. He would help Yinsen live. He nodded and repeated, “okay.”

“Okay, what?”

He had no plans, but he had his voice. “Let’s escape.” When he finally said it, it became something solid, a promise for Yinsen and for himself. Everything else would fall into place. Because it was for Yinsen’s sake, if not for his, that he should get him out of this hellhole.

It was too easy to fool into the Ten Rings demand once Tony did have a plan in mind, but it took a waterboarding, whipping, and a broken leg for Tony to get to that point. He healed, much too slowly for his liking, and much slower than his normal werewolf speed. But it must have been all the wolfsbane that have been coursing in his body. Being crippled by the fact that he could no longer shift because of the terrible mess he had in his chest forced him to think up solutions in ways he hadn’t thought up before.

Finally, the soldiers brought in the weapons, _his_ weapons, to cannibalize and repurpose them for the Jericho missile. He needed his weapons to build a better substitution for the thing in his chest.

“I need your help,” Tony admitted, when it was just Yinsen and Tony and the crackling fire. “My fingers are not steady enough to do the fine things I need to do.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Not Jericho,” he said ruefully. “I’m never giving that to them. I can, however, build something else. Here.” Tony laid out his blueprints on their worktable. He’d been working on it for the past several days. “I’ve been thinking about this since I was stuck here.”

“What’s this?” Yinsen asked curiously.

“It’s what’s going to replace this thing.” Tony tapped the center of his chest, biting down a moan when the thing rattled painfully in his chest. He gasped, “Bad idea. Regardless, I am not going to remain stuck to a car battery. This is an arc reactor.”

Yinsen frowned, but he didn’t push. “Okay,” he finally said. “What do you need me to do?”

Tony was extraordinarily glad for Yinsen’s steady fingers. He would have fucked the arc reactor up, and they didn’t have any room for mistakes. Tony looked down at his own shaking fingers. He hated the way his body betrayed him so, unable to do the fine motor control most of his work needed. He couldn’t fix this part of himself though, not when he was completely away from civilization and stuck with a lone Beta werewolf.

But the miniaturized arc reactor was done, glowing a soft blue in the dim cave, and he smiled. He did it. Yinsen helped him put the arc reactor in his chest, eyes concentrated and hands steady, turning the thing with a “click.”

It was like a weight was taken off his chest: he was freer now, not burdened by the heaviness of the car battery that had been stuck to him. It was such a small step towards freedom; Tony would take any small accomplishments that he could take.

But now it left escape. Between Yinsen and Tony, only Yinsen had the ability to shift. Tony was a fucking liability, unable to do the exact thing he was born to do. He couldn’t be fast; he was essentially human. He needed something like an armor to protect all his fragility.

An armor. That was what he needed. If he couldn’t outrun his captors, his life, he could perhaps shield himself from it. Tony swallowed. His mind worked rapidly, mentally creating an armor that could hopefully protect himself, and protect Yinsen too. “I’m going to build myself armor,” Tony said a beat later.

Thankfully Yinsen didn’t question him. Instead, he just said, “Tell me how.”

Tony was grateful that caving in to the Ten Rings demands meant that he had more freedom to work on his armor under the guise of building the Jericho, and Yinsen’s hands helped tremendously. Having Yinsen there helped him focus too, because if he didn’t want to save himself, Yinsen deserved saving, and that was enough for him to continue melting the metal in the furnace and shaping it to his size.

Slowly but surely, the armor formed piece by piece. It hung in the darkest corner of their prison, away from prying eyes. The shell of Jericho laid strewn on the table so that when their captors peered in, they would see that Tony was working on what they wanted.

Tony knew that they couldn’t stall for too much longer. He could see that the Alphas were getting antsy about him, their red eyes flashing when they came in to inspect his work. They would lick their lips, give him a heated smirk, like he was a piece of meat to be devoured. He hated the lack of autonomy, in more ways that one. As a captive, he had no choice but to submit to the demands of his captors. As an Omega in the midst of Alphas, it was so difficult to fight Alpha commands. It was easier to shake it off because they weren’t his Alpha, but it still took all of his energy to fight off their flashing red eyes and not fall to his knees in supplication.

He was surprised that his heat hadn’t come on - surely his body would have succumbed to it. It felt like he had been in the cave long enough to have had one. But when Tony brought it up tentatively to Yinsen, Yinsen shrugged.

“It’s probably delayed,” he said. “There could be several reasons for it: you are under stress, you are malnourished.” He waved at the arc reactor. “You have an alien object in your body, let alone all the wolfsbane laced in your blood. Having a heat may kill you. There’s no telling what factors are affecting it.”

“Probably a good sign,” Tony muttered.

Yinsen gave him a sad look. “With the way the Alphas are looking at you? It is perhaps a good sign indeed.”

With a sigh, Tony formed the chestplate into its proper shape. It would protect him from most arms when they made their escape. The armor was crude, basic, plain, but it would work for the job. With a sigh, arms aching more than it should, Tony put down the hammer and dipped the chestplate into the barrel of cold water. It was the final piece to his armor.

But as he held it, his ears perked up at the sounds outside of the cave. They were very faint, but his sharp werewolf hearing could pick up sounds of fighting. There was a loud roar. It was followed by a group of howls that made Tony’s knees shake. Those were Alpha howls, and those sounds bore nothing good.

He turned to Yinsen. “Upload the program,” he said.

Yinsen looked at him. “It’s not complete!”

“No time. If we’re making our escape, we have to do it now. We don’t know what’s going on outside.”

After staring at Tony for a moment, he finally said, “Okay. I’ll upload the program.” His fingers flew over the keyboard, and Tony heaved the chestplate up to put it in its final resting place.

The prison doors opened with a mighty bang, and one of the Alphas flew in. Tony’s fingers were still gripping onto the chestplate, and it was much too late to hide his project from them. The Alpha looked at Tony, eyes glowing ruby red, and snarled under his breath. His teeth were elongated, protruding out of his mouth, and Tony was frozen in place.

He was terrified.

The Alpha looked at the table, then at Tony. He shouted something at him and pointed viciously at the table. The only word that he got from the rapid mess of words was “Jericho.”

Yinsen said, “He wants to know where—” 

“—the Jericho is. I got that reference,” Tony said. He looked at the Alpha, and he flashed his eyes back. He snarled, “Well, guess what buddy. _You can never have that._ I told you that I’d never give it to you. What makes you think I would give it to you?”

It was patriotic to not give up the Jericho. But Tony wasn’t thinking about that. It was for Rhodey. He would never betray Rhodey, even at the cost of his life. The Alpha snarled, hearing the recalcitrance in his tone; he snarled back, not giving an inch. He would never allow terrorists, and terrible Alphas to control him.

Except Obie. But Tony couldn’t think about him right now - he wasn’t here.

The sounds of fighting were much closer now, shaking the cave. Tony and the Alpha looked out past the prison doors. Tony couldn’t see anything, but the way the Alpha tensed up beside him told him that the fighting wasn’t going well. The Alpha turned back to him, bloodlust in his eyes, and he struck much too fast for even Tony’s heightened senses could register.

His face exploded into pain. Blood dripped down his face, bleeding from the claw marks that went from his temple to his cheeks. The Alpha’s fingers narrowly missed his eye - any closer, he would have definitely been blinded. Werewolf or not, it wasn’t easy to heal from that injury. Tony gasped in surprise, stumbling back and tripping over his feet.

Yinsen growled, pushing the Alpha back when he raised his hand again. They growled at each other, and Tony cowered in the background as they postured. The cave shook again, and dust fell to the floor. Then, as the Alpha snatched his gun, he growled back at them. He pointed the gun at Yinsen. Yinsen growled back, not budging, and Tony watched as the Alpha glared, finger hovering over the trigger.

Tony wasn’t sure that the Alpha wouldn’t pull the trigger.

Tony scrambled up to his feet. “What does he want?” Tony asked.

“Get back, Tony,” Yinsen growled around his thick teeth.

“He’s going to shoot you!”

Before Yinsen could say another word, the gun fired, sending a bullet towards them. It embedded into the ceiling, sending dust down on their heads. The Alpha fled, and as soon as he disappeared, “Lousy shot,” Tony said after a beat.

“He wasn’t trying to kill us. He was only trying to scare us.” Yinsen turned to Tony. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Tony dismissed. “What’s the update on the program?”

“Fifty percent. We have to get you into the armor.”

Tony nodded. Yinsen pushed him gently towards the armor. “You won’t be able to move until the systems come online. Even your werewolf strength wouldn’t be able to carry this.”

“I know. I don’t have my werewolf strength either. It’s all laced up in wolfsbane, remember?”

“Indeed.” Yinsen stripped the armor down, and Tony slithered inside. It was like a metal coffin, and Tony was trapped inside. The armor was much too heavy for him to move properly, and it stifled him. Every piece that Yinsen placed on him felt more and more like a coffin. His coffin.

Through the open eye pieces, Tony watched as Yinsen moved around, scrambling to fit him into the armor. He breathed, trying to keep his anxiety at bay. He hated this, this stillness; it was against his very nature of freedom to move easily. This was unwieldy and slow. But he wasn’t a wolf, not anymore, not when the wolfsbane remained coursing through his body. He was a human, and a subpar one at that.

The cave shook again, and the explosion was much louder, echoing loudly inside their prison. Tony was limited in sight by the metal eye pieces he had, and he hated the selective blindness. Yinsen snapped his head towards the door, scowling.

“Yinsen—” Tony started, but Yinsen hissed.

“Quiet!” He stopped, stilled. “Someone’s coming.”

There was a crunching of boots upon the gravel, and Yinsen growled. He shifted into his werewolf body, leaping forward out of his vision. There was another crunch of gravel, a _snick,_ a howl that was abruptly cut off. Then, the acrid stench of too much warm blood filled his nose, and it took all of his self-control not to gag aloud. Tony closed his eyes, trying not to imagine what he thought had just happened.

“Did you get everyone, Rumlow?” someone asked. American. Tony’s eyes snapped open, but all he could see was the wall on the other side of the cavern. He didn’t know where Yinsen was, but considering that the voice seemed unconcerned, it mostly likely meant that Yinsen was dead.

Oh god, Yinsen. He was going to save him, and he was dead.

“Yeah, just this last werewolf,” another voice, probably Rumlow, said. “Good riddance. I can’t wait to get out of this God-forsaken place. Fucking werewolves.”

There were two footsteps that were near him now, and Tony held his breath. His heart was beating loudly in his chest, pressing uncomfortably against his arc reactor.

The computer pinged, signalling its completed upload.

“You know, I think I’m going to take a last look around, make sure that there’s nothing left, and then let’s blow this popsicle stand,” the first voice said.

“You got it, Cap.”

One set of footsteps walked closer to the armor. “Why don’t you go see if the others need help?”

“You sure you got this?”

“Pretty sure I got it.” Tony could feel a presence in front of him now, and he squeezed his eyes tighter. He let out a shallow breath.

“Alright Cap. I’ll go see if Natasha needs any help.” The other set of footsteps walked away.

Tony’s highly sensitive ears picked up the breaths of the man in front of him, standing still, like he was waiting. Tony himself wasn’t a patient man, and it was hard for him to stay still, hardly breathing.

“I know you’re in there,” Cap said.

Tony said nothing. It was better if he didn’t.

There was a screech of metal, piercing his sensitive ears. He winced, but the metal protecting his face was gone.

He was exposed.

Tony opened his eyes, facing his doom, except Cap was…

...the most gorgeous man he had ever met. Even in the dim light, he could see the blue eyes looking back at him. He wore the “dirty soldier” look much too well; there was a streak of sweat running down his face.

But it was the suit that was most recognizable. For even though it wasn’t the distinctive blue suit with the bright red and white stripes, Tony could recognize the utterly distinctive star at the center of his chest.

“You’re...Captain America,” he whispered in awe, forgetting his fears for a second.

For more than the fact that he recognized one Captain America in his uniform, there was something even more, for better or for worse: Captain America was his mate.

And it _hurt_ to finally know that he was beginning to bond with a man who led a team that killed werewolves.

When Tony looked past Captain America, he could see that rank scent of blood came from a slash that nearly split Yinsen in half. Yinsen was dead, and it was Captain America’s team who did that.

That was a terrifying revelation.

Because he was a werewolf himself, even if he couldn’t shift now. If Captain America knew that he _was_ a werewolf, there was no telling whether he would be alive or dead. He bit his lip. It was horrifying to know that fact.

And his body was desperate for the Alpha in front of him.

“Hello son,” Captain America said lightly, as if he couldn’t hear the roiling thoughts that were running through Tony’s mind. The gravitas of this whole situation wasn’t there. He looked at him a moment longer, before he asked, “You’re Tony Stark, right? Many people are looking for you. I’m here to take you home.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to vicspeaks for betaing this chapter!

“We have reached our destination,” the pilot’s voice intoned over the loud noise of the transport. “Preparing for descent.”

The plane shook and Tony’s teeth rattled with it. His body radiated with pain from the hole in his chest. For a moment his mind blanked when the cargo plane rattled from the slight turbulence. Tony came back to himself with a gasp, blinking away tears from his eyes. He tasted blood in his mouth; he had bitten his tongue by accident.

A hand covered his hand that was gripping his knee, and it squeezed gently. Tony inhaled, breath stuttering to a stop when his lungs remembered that they weren’t whole anymore, and then he looked sideways.

Rhodey looked back at him with concern in his eyes. Pointedly, he looked down at the section of his chest that had his covered arc reactor before he looked back up at him.

_ I’m fine, _ Tony mouthed back, knowing that Rhodey couldn’t hear him over the roar of the engines. Rhodey couldn’t do anything about the pain anyway - he was only human. The only thing that would take away his pain completely was an Alpha werewolf, and even then that was only a temporary solution. His body, despite it still being filled with wolfsbane shards, was able to metabolize all the pain relief drugs that the doctors gave him, leaving him with pain with every breath and every shallow movement. He needed to heal for the pain to go away, but that was an impossible task.

Tony couldn’t go to the doctor because that would mean revealing his status as a werewolf, and due to the increasing prejudice against the supernatural it meant certain death for him if people knew that he wasn’t  _ normal. _ He wouldn’t be able to go to a supernatural doctor either, not without his alpha’s permission.

And he wouldn’t want them to touch the arc reactor because they would examine it and examine him like a specimen. He gritted his teeth, inhaling the fire. He would have to live with this.

Rhodey looked unconvinced, narrowing his eyes at the obvious lie. But they knew he couldn’t do anything either - Rhodey wasn’t his Alpha, or any Alpha whatsoever. Like most humans, Rhodey was a neutral - beta if he was a werewolf, but he wasn’t one either. Therefore, all he could do was squeeze their hands again in comfort until they landed on the tarmac.

When the white-hot pain had dulled back to a painful ache after the landing, Tony slowly got to his feet. Without any support, he swayed on his feet, and Rhodey grabbed him.

“I’m fine,” he heard himself say as though it came from a distance. He breathed, waiting for the dizziness to pass.

Rhodey gripped his arm tighter. “Uh huh,” he said. “I’ll believe it when you’re not falling flat on your face.”

“Didn’t happen,” Tony protested, slowly coming back to himself. “‘m still upright.”

“Because I’m holding onto you,” Rhodey said flatly. “We’ll see how long that lasts if you don’t have me holding you up.”

“Let go and we’ll see!” Tony pulled away from his hold, intending to walk under his own volition. Almost immediately, his knees began to buckle, but he didn’t fall to the ground for Rhodey had grabbed onto him again.

“I can walk on my own,” Rhodey mocked him. “Nice job of walking on your own there. Were you planning on walking out of here on your face?”

Tony scowled. “I don’t sound like that, stop insulting me honeybear.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes, leading them both out of the jet. “I’ve known you for how long now? I think I know what you sound like, and that’s definitely it.”

Tony knocked his shoulder against Rhodey’s. The resulting pain from his chest was well worth the squawk of offense. In truth, however, he appreciated his friend’s support because he wouldn’t have been able to leave the aircraft carrier otherwise. Not only that, but Rhodey’s insults were music to his ears; he needed that little bit of normalcy after being deprived of it for so long. Slowly, they made their way down the plank.

Pepper, Happy, and Peter were waiting a distance away. His eyes burned with unshed tears when he saw them smiling at his return. Tony choked.

In the depths of captivity, he’d forgotten about them and his responsibility. He’d been so filled with loathing of himself and his dependence on Obie and the pack that he’d forgotten about the other part of his pack, with people he cared about.

And they were all here now. He couldn’t believe he was that close to giving up on his own life, hoping to get away from the life that he lived with Obadiah Stane’s control hanging over him.

“Mister Stark!” Peter yelled, running towards him. Happy grabbed for the quickly moving boy, but he missed. Rhodey reached out to stop him from barrelling into Tony, Tony stopped his outstretched hand.

The inevitable pain from Peter crashing into him would hurt, but Tony didn’t care. He nearly left Peter behind, and the pain for forgetting would have been worth it. Had he died in the cave, Peter would have been under Obie’s control and bidding. Peter would have suffered a terrible fate, for a phoenix shapeshifter was one of the most prized shapeshifters in the supernatural world. As quickly as Peter ran towards him though, the expected jolt of agony never came. Peter had abruptly slowed down and hugged him gently, his arms around Tony’s waist. 

“I missed you so much, Mister Stark! I’m so happy that you’re back.” He buried his face into Tony’s chest, pressing right against the arc reactor casing. Tony inhaled sharply, freezing. Peter found his secret, hidden behind a layer of gauze and his suit. Peter drew back in silent shock, clearly not expecting to feel something hard there, and he brought his hand up to touch it.

Tony grabbed his wrist before he could do so. “Not here,” Tony muttered.  _ Not where everyone can see. _ The tech was too exclusive, too dangerous to be seen while Tony was incapacitated and vulnerable - if people knew about the arc reactor, it would be terrible. 

Although he voiced none of his concerns, Peter seemed to understand anyway. He nodded in acknowledgement, pulling his hand back.

Pepper and Happy walked towards Tony at a more sedate pace. Tony grinned. “Pepper, Happy.”

“Welcome back, Mister Stark,” Pepper said.

“Are those tears in your eyes? Happy to see me?” he teased. But his heart belied his words; he was just as happy to see them.

Pepper shook her head. “I just hate job hunting.” They knew better.

“Hey boss,” Happy said. He too had a wavering smile on his face.

They all did. For this little time they had, Tony was glad that he had them all here. His heart filled with warmth, happy that the people he cared about most were all here. He patted Peter on the head, and they walked slowly towards his car.

Peter thrummed with energy, giving Tony updates on everything he missed while he was gone. He said, arms flailing in excitement, “I made a new blender because DUM-E broke the last one while you were gone. He was absolutely devastated when he did that.”

“So you decided to indulge him?” 

Peter nodded, bouncing beside him. “He sounded so sad. I couldn’t not make him a new blender, and it’s indestructible now too!” 

“You spoil him too much,” Tony said, shaking his head. His cheeks hurt from smiling though. He had missed this so much.

“And you don’t?” Rhodey interjected. “I distinctly recall you giving him upgrades all the time.”

“They were routine maintenance!” Tony protested. He rolled his eyes. “I need my bots to be in top shape. Can’t work with faulty bots.”

“And yet he still can’t tell the difference between a fire and a lamp.” Rhodey shook his head. He helped Tony into his car, dodging the weak fist that came after him in retaliation for his statement. “Don’t strain yourself buddy. You’ve been my best friend for forever, so I know everything about you.”

“Best friend my ass,” Tony grumbled, settling back into his seat. “More like a pain in the ass.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Rhodey laughed, patting the hood of the car. Then he sobered up, ducking so that he met Tony eye to eye. “Really, I’m glad you’re back. I missed you - it wasn’t the same without you pestering me.”

“Next time I’ll ride the Humvee,” Tony replied. It was enough of an apology, a thank you, and a see you next time all rolled into one. 

Rhodey ruffled his hair, drawing an indignant squawk from his mouth. “I’m not a kid anymore!” Tony said.

“Uh huh,” he replied, “I’ll see you next time I’m on leave.”

“Mister Stark,” Peter and Pepper said simultaneously, talking over each other in a bid for his attention.

Tony raised his hand to stop them from speaking further. “One at a time, please. Peter, you’re a good kid, but regale me with workshop shenanigans later. Pepper looks like she’s about to blow a fuse.”

“Sorry Mister Stark, Miss Potts,” Peter said.

“Give me ten minutes of Mister Stark’s time, and you can have the rest of his attention for the rest of the ride,” Pepper replied.

“And stop by Burger King on the way home, Happy,” Tony said. “I want a cheeseburger or five. And maybe some fries.”

“You got it boss!” Happy acquiesced.

“You’re due to go to the hospital though,” Pepper said, frowning.

But Tony shook his head. “No hospitals. Home. I’ve got to work on things. And give me the updates.”

Tony settled into his seat as Pepper complied after a hesitant beat. It was clear that she wanted to protest, but one look from Tony stopped her. Instead, Pepper launched into the updates, catching Tony up on everything that he missed while he was gone. It was mostly boring updates that he barely paid attention to; Obie was the one who made the most important decisions anyway - he just signed documents. It wasn’t like he could stand up to his own Alpha. He was a figurehead and the legacy of his father’s company, and a disappointment to the family at that because he was merely an omega.

“After your return, SI stock has been raised forty-three points,” Pepper said. “CNBC, CNN, and Fox are all talking about you today.”

“All good things, I hope?” Tony said before he bit into his cheeseburger.

“Mostly good, although there are still some who are angry about your war profiteering,” she replied. “It’ll pass over soon. The board—”

“—can go fuck themselves,” Tony interrupted.

“That’s twenty in my college fund, Mister Stark!” Peter gleefully said beside him.

Tony stared at Peter. “Kid, I just got back from an ordeal, and you already want to swindle me out of my money?”

“It’s what you promised him. I don’t think you want to go back on your word, do you?” Pepper grinned.

Tony sighed. “What would I do without you to remind me?”

“You’d probably still be in 2008, forgetting all of your responsibilities, and be in your workshop without food,” she listed. “There’s a gala next week at which your presence is required.”

“Remind me then, I’ll most likely forget now.”

Pepper nodded, quickly tapping on her tablet. “Of course.”

For all the happiness that he had when he was among them, he knew that this bliss couldn’t last forever. Hesitantly, he asked, “How about news from the supernatural world and the Human Rights Act?”

The ensuing silence that blanketed the car was stifling. Even Peter’s energy had flagged. He was almost afraid to find out what had happened. But he needed to know. He  _ was _ one of them, and he needed to know what was going to happen with his life.

Pepper cleared her throat. “It’s really bad,” she said quietly. “They found the body of a human who’d been mauled by a wolf not too far from the mansion. Because there are no natural wolves in California, they’ve determined that a werewolf did it, just like the five other ones.”

Tony was silent, heart thumping hard in his chest. He strained to keep his face indifferent, his fingers still. It was only a matter of time before they found him if Obie kept using him as his “beautiful Omega reaper.” He didn’t  _ want _ to do all that, but his nature prevented him from fighting against the control that Obie had over him. 

Pepper continued, “All the known supernaturals were dragged out into the open and essentially mobbed. There was a vampire in Montana who was burnt to a crisp, a mermaid was dragged out of the Gulf of Mexico and paraded on the streets of San Diego. Someone scalped a dragon’s hide in Nevada. The perpetrators have been arrested, but they have public approval. Even the president’s calling out against the supernatural community, so it’s only a matter of time before Congress passes the Human Rights Act.”

Tony felt chilled to the bone. The situation was way worse than he could have ever thought. It was frightening to think about the repercussions of what could happen if anyone ever found out about either Tony or Peter. Imprisoned, lynched…

...dead.

He fought to breathe through the feeling of doom that washed over him. He went from one hell to another, and he wasn’t sure if this one was better. Thinly, he said, “Lobby against it. We can’t have the Human Rights Act pass before we take a look at it. As much as I despise the fact that the supernatural community gets too many passes, it’s also not fair for the innocent to die in people’s hands just because they are unfortunate enough to be one.”

“Of course. I’ll make arrangements for the documents to be sent over from the Capitol.” Tony was grateful that Pepper didn’t push for an explanation of this vested interest. Tony wasn’t sure if she knew about him - he knew that he didn’t tell her, but after being around him for so long, it was highly possible that she perhaps knew.

He didn’t want to know whether she did. It was safer for her that way. The less anybody knew about Tony and Peter, the safer they were.

“Thank you,” Tony said.

The car finally pulled up upon his driveway. It was a blessing, for he felt like he couldn’t sit in the car for a second longer. His body longed to run, run as far away as possible from this life that bode doom. He couldn’t of course, not with the wolfsbane shrapnel lodged in his chest, but he felt slightly freer when he stood in front of his mansion. 

He dreaded being home.

He was happy that he was home.

He needed a contingency plan if anything went to hell, and it certainly seemed things were headed that way.

“Mister Stark?”

Tony turned to Peter. There was fear in his eyes. Tony was as terrified as he was. “Yes, kiddo?”

“Is anything gonna happen to me?” he asked softly, almost too softly for even his werewolf hearing to catch. Even so, he could still hear Peter’s voice wavering.

He hoped everything was going to be okay. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he said, trying to act more confident than he felt.

He had to be strong for Peter’s sake, even if he felt like everything was falling apart. He wrapped his arms around his charge, holding him tightly, wishing he could protect him from the injustices of this world. After he sent Peter off to do whatever Peter does during his free time, he changed out of his suit and went to his workshop. Peter was reluctant to leave Tony, but Tony couldn’t have him in his workshop with so much on his mind. He needed this time to himself to figure things out.

“Wake up, children, Daddy’s home,” Tony said, clapping his hands together. “We got lots of work to do.”

“Welcome back, sir,” JARVIS said. “It’s good to see you alive.” 

DUM-E and U beeped excitedly, rolling over towards him. They knocked into each other in their haste to greet Tony. Tony laughed, petting each of them on their claw. “Hello, U. Hi there, DUM-E. I’ve heard you were a troublemaker while I was gone. I can’t believe you broke the blender.”

“DUM-E dropped the blender while he was attempting to make a smoothie for young Mister Parker, sir,” JARVIS said. “Mister Parker repaired it.”

“And supposedly it’s indestructible now, from what he’d told me,” Tony said, trying and failing to sound stern. He couldn’t find it in his heart to be mad because he missed them so much. With a fond sigh, he patted DUM-E on the head again before he moved towards his workstation. “I suppose I forgive you. This time. Next time, I’ll be less kind. J, give me status updates.”

“Of course. Stark Industries Research and Development Department have been attempting to obtain a high energy output from smaller lithium batteries. They have not been successful so far.”

Tony groaned. “Of course. They’re idiots, the whole lot of them. I don’t know why Obie keeps hiring idiots into the department.”

“Unfortunately, sir, there remains only one of you.” 

Tony glared at the ceiling. “Cheeky. You’re sassing the person who created you. I’m not sure I like your tone.”

“I shall put yet another black mark to my tally,” JARVIS replied smoothly.

“I just got back and you’re already sassing me. I don’t even get a break,” Tony grumbled, sitting down in his chair. Then he sobered. “JARVIS, please create two new projects. First one, title it ‘Super Nanny’ protocol.”

With this, he would create a contingency plan for Peter in case everything went to hell. He had promised that he would protect Peter, and he was going to do everything in his power to make it happen. He hoped that nothing would happen, but just in case…

“And for the second project, title it ‘Captain America.’ Start building a profile on Steve Rogers. I need all information, past and current, on him.”

“I believe that much of this information is classified,” JARVIS replied. “Captain America was—”

“Of course it is,” Tony muttered. “He’s a national icon. He’s alive J, and I want to know when, why, and how. Break all firewalls and get me all of it.”

Captain America was his mate, and an Alpha too. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion that he found him, but Tony found no joy in it. In fact, it was a shock to learn about it while he was at his most vulnerable.

He couldn’t believe that Captain America was even  _ alive _ in the first place, let alone his  _ mate. _ He grew up on his father’s tales of an amazing human who was able to keep up with the supernatural community in strength and power. He fought with them during World War II, and Tony had always admired the man who was able to get the respect from his father.

But the man he saw back in the cave wasn’t the man he thought he would be.  _ He killed Yinsen. _ He wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, Tony didn’t think, but he  _ was _ complicit in the senseless murder. And it  _ hurt, _ knowing that Captain America was perhaps not the good, honorable man his father always praised him to be.

And his wolf, even hurt, knew that Steve Rogers was  _ his. _ Tony wanted to cry in despair, for he was trapped in one hell or another with no end in sight. He collapsed in his chair, looking at the screens blindly, barely registering when JARVIS cracked through the firewalls and uploaded the classified documents to his personal server.

“Sir, my upload is complete,” JARVIS said, voice breaking through the haze in his mind.

Tony swallowed. His mouth was dry, and his heart pounded with dread of what he might see. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

Truly, he should put Steve Rogers out of his mind, for it was clear that Captain America had a job to do with his clandestine operations in God-knows-where with God-knows-what department. CIA? Homeland Security? Because of that, Tony wasn’t even sure if he would see him again either. Steve may be his Alpha, but he was also human. They didn’t have the same attachments a werewolf might have, which meant that Steve had no idea that he was Tony’s Alpha.

Slowly, Tony uncurled himself from the tight ball he didn’t realize he happened to be in, and he slowly opened the first file.

The file was from the Supernatural Hunters Investigation, Elimination, and Logistics Division, a dossier about one Captain America. For a moment, Tony stared uncomprehendingly: SHIELD was...not something he had heard of in a long, long time. It barely rang a bell in his mind. But Tony vaguely recalled that Howard had something to do with the agency, and he wasn’t privy to most of that information because he wasn’t an Alpha, let alone the  _ head _ Alpha of all werewolves like his father was. He was just an omega youngling then, and there was no chance that anyone would have given him  _ any _ information. He was merely bred to be an Alpha’s mate. Still, the very little memories he had of SHIELD told him that Steve Rogers was part of the agency that enforced the laws of the supernatural community.

Unbidden, Tony’s eyes were drawn to the image at the upper right hand corner of the screen, and Tony’s breath caught in his throat.

Back in the cave, as much as he had werewolf vision and all, Tony wasn’t in his right mind to observe the man. There was so much going on - him trying to escape from the cave, Yinsen dying in front of him, laying eyes on Captain America and realizing that a  _ hunter _ was his  _ mate _ \- that Tony was too distracted to actually  _ see _ him. Now that he was in his workshop, he could see the piercing blue eyes staring back at him, the shapely nose, the strong chiseled jaw.

There was a high pitched whine that Tony only belatedly realized came from him. Tony cut off the noise with a sharp click to the jaw. The Captain was such a beautiful man. Tony  _ wanted _ him to be his Alpha. His heart tugged in sorrow; he had inadvertently begun to bond with him during the very short time they were in contact with each other. His wolf couldn’t help himself.

It was destiny.

It was agony.

Tony didn’t even get to see the Captain for very long either; as soon as they took him away from the God-forsaken place, Steve put him on the chopper that happened to be waiting for them, and Rhodey was there. Then, he went back in the cave, and all Tony was left with were the echoes of Steve’s fingers in his palm when Steve helped Tony into the chopper. Tony barely knew the man, and he  _ missed _ him. But he shouldn’t either, because he allowed his  _ team  _ to kill Yinsen, and Yinsen was innocent. He didn’t know whether it was because Steve believed that Yinsen was guilty, or because he hated the supernatural. Either way, it meant that Tony couldn’t be safe with him either.

He sighed, feeling the ache and conflict in his heart. He didn’t know what to do.

His phone rang. Tony cut off his musings, pulling out his phone. It was Obie. For a moment, Tony debated not answering because he didn’t want to deal with his pack Alpha either. He didn’t want to play his games, follow his every order like the puppet he was. But he knew that if he didn’t, Obie would punish him harshly. 

Tony, as reluctant as he was to admit it, also missed his Alpha and his pack after being away for so long without the touch of his packmates. He was adrift and he needed to feel the bond of his pack. He picked up the phone.

“Hello, Tony.”

It was like a breath of fresh air. Obie’s voice tethered him, bringing him back home. His wolf whined in happiness, glad that he finally was able to reconnect with his Alpha. With a small voice, Tony said, “Hi Obie.”

For as much as he loathed Obie, he needed him too.

“How’s my omega? Are you okay?”

Tony closed his eyes, letting Obie’s voice wash over him. “I’m okay, Obie. I’m home. I missed...everyone.”

Obie hummed. “The pack missed you too,” he said. Tony’s lips stretched into a humorless grin. The pack didn’t care about Tony; he barely even saw them because of the hold Obie had on him. He stayed silent though, for Obie was still talking. “I got the ransom video from your abductors. There was gauze around your chest and you were still bleeding right through! What happened?”

“I...barely remember that,” he said after some hesitance. His memories were all fuzzy at the time, barely conscious from fever and infection. “But I got hit by shrapnel, laced with wolfsbane. They’re still in my chest.”

There was a sharp gasp from the other end of the line. “Oh, Tony,” Obie sighed. “That’s horrible. How did you survive?”

Tony faltered. The arc reactor in his chest was his only saving grace. He should keep his secret close to his heart, literally. It was the only thing that prevented him from shifting into a werewolf, and he was at his most vulnerable now. Yet, he found himself seeking praise from Obie. He needed the approval from his Alpha. “Someone saved my life and put an electromagnet into my chest.”

“A what?”

“Electromagnet. It basically keeps the shrapnel from moving into my heart. You know the arc reactor that’s powering the factory in L.A.? I miniaturized it and put it in my chest. It’s what’s keeping me alive right now.”

“Oh, Tony,” Obie echoed again. “I’m so glad that you’re not dead. The arc reactor you say? You miniaturized it? You need to show me a picture.”

“Of course. I’ll have it sent to you after we hang up.” Anything for his Alpha. But still, there was something lurking in the back of his mind, the fact that the Ten Rings had his weapons. He said with barely concealed horror, “Obie, the shrapnel. It came from my own missiles. The  _ enemy _ had my missiles. I have shrapnel in my chest from my own missiles. How did they get any of my weapons?”

Stark Industries sold weapons exclusively to the U.S. Military, and for Tony to find out that the enemy had his weapons filled him with dread. He made weapons to protect Rhodey! To find out that his weapons could be used to hurt his family was...too much for him to bear. 

“Perhaps it was a mistake,” Obie mused. “We do have out of commission weapons stockpiled around. Don’t forget, this company had been founded before you were even born, so there’s bound to be old caches of weapons lying around. We funded all of the U.S. wars and their allies, so it’s entirely possible that some of those weapons had been stolen.”

“But, they were my weapons, not even Howard’s designs,” Tony protested. “I created some of them less than five years ago. How do they even have my weapons?”

Obie hummed. “I’ll look into it, but I’m sure it was all a mistake,” he said.

His words didn’t fill him with comfort, but Tony knew that if he pushed Obie too far, he would be punished. So he bit his tongue. “Okay.”

“You sound tired,” Obie said. “Get some rest, Tony. I’ll take care of everything, and when I finish up things at SI, I might even drop by for a little bit.”

“Okay,” Tony said again. Obie was always so busy with SI, it was nearly impossible for him to even “finish up.” But he didn’t want to argue with Obie. He didn’t want Obie to show up; he wanted Obie’s praises and pets. Tony felt conflicted. “I hope to see you soon.”

After Obie hung up, Tony’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He was so tired, he was hurt, there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel. He just wanted…

He wanted someone kind.

Tony looked up at Steve’s official SHIELD picture, hoping, just hoping, that against all odds, Steve was a kind Alpha and a kind mate. Because he wasn’t sure if he could take this indifference any longer.

“Sir,” JARVIS interrupted. “There’s a message for you. It’s marked ‘highly urgent.’”

“If I answered every urgent memo that came into my inbox, I’d never catch a break,” Tony said.

“You might want to see this email. It’s from SHIELD.”

Oh. “How did they even find out?” Tony asked, frowning. “Did you leave a trail behind? I thought I taught you better than that. That’s something I’d expect from DUM-E, not you.”

“I apologize, sir,” JARVIS replied. Despite the fact that JARVIS’s tone was still smooth, it sounded as if he was miffed. “Unfortunately, the technology SHIELD uses is by Stark Industries, which means that you developed their servers, sir.”

“Which meant that I probably sabotaged my own self,” Tony sighed. “Too late now. Run diagnostics. Let that be a lesson for you not to leave something behind next time.”

“Yes sir.”

“Next time you do that, I’m definitely gonna be donating you to the local community college. Open the email.”

“Mr. Stark,” the email read. “You were good at covering your tracks. Your own tech sabotaged you though, so we know you broke into our servers. Captain America is classified information. Besides the fact that you have stolen proprietary information, you have entered into the database of a highly classified intelligence agency. We will be reaching out to you shortly to discuss repercussions.”

Tony sighed again, threading his fingers through his hair. “Well, fuck.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Stingray for betaing this chapter!

Tony smoothed out his dress shirt, looking at himself in the mirror. “How do I look?” he asked, picking up the bow tie and turning around.

“Sharp as always,” Pepper replied. She stepped forward when Tony handed his tie to her and she tied it around his neck expertly. “I have to say, I’m mildly surprised that you’re dressing up for the gala without me dragging you from your workshop. And you’re on time too.”

“New era, new me,” Tony said, putting on his cufflinks. “Coming this close to death really put things in perspective.”

Pepper wrinkled her nose. “As much as I like to agree with you, you never were a gala type person. I think you’ll eventually slip up and go back to your old ways. Probably sooner than later.”

“Perhaps,” Tony agreed, glancing at himself in the mirror again. He himself didn’t know, to be honest - he’d never come this close to death before, even though he’d been in situations where his life was on the line. Being a werewolf had that inherent danger in this day and age. But the thing was, being unable to shift made him feel more at risk than ever before because he was essentially human. As much as he hated his wolf side, he also hated the fact that he was cut off from it too.

At least in his wolf shift, he’d been able to run far and quickly. With this human form, he wouldn’t be able to. It made him feel trapped.

What he saw looking back at the mirror was fear and resignation. He got the feeling that he was a pawn to a complicated chess game of which he didn’t know the players or the side he was on. Perhaps he was a white piece, perhaps he was a black one. Or perhaps, there was no color to his piece, nothing but grey, for there was no way of knowing whether he was good or bad.

He sighed. “Obie ordered me to be on time,” Tony confessed. And even though he hated it, he still wanted to please him.

“That makes more sense,” Pepper said lightly.

Finally he turned away; he couldn’t bear to see his lost look any longer. He glanced at Pepper and lifted an eyebrow when he saw that she wasn’t dressed. “Not going to the gala?”

Pepper shook her head. “My presence isn’t required for tonight. Happy is waiting for you in the front.”

“Alright.” Tony strode out to the foyer, where he saw Peter sitting on the floor. Pieces of scrap were strewn across the coffee table, and he was busy working on something. “Hey kiddo, what’cha doing there?”

“Mister Stark,” Peter greeted, looking up and grinning. “I’m working on an electric motor for the science fair. By the time I’m done, it should be able to power one of the cars downstairs.”

“Oh really? Are you going to try to persuade me to take out one of the engines just so you could test drive it?”

“You can’t even drive, Peter,” Pepper interjected skeptically.

Peter grinned, unfazed by fact. “Which is why Mister Stark is going to test drive it for me!”

JARVIS interjected, “Mister Parker, perhaps I might suggest that you reduce the energy output by fifteen percent because the current calculations would overheat the engine and risk failure.”

Tony grimaced. “Perhaps we should avoid using one of the classic cars for your experiment,” he said. 

“Can we try the Telsa?” Peter’s eyes were wide, pleading. Peter was using his puppy eyes on him, and damn him, it worked every time.

“As long as I’m not inside it,” Tony sighed, but he couldn’t help but grin when Peter cheered and nearly overturned the table in his excitement. “I’d say Elon would be offended, but honestly he’d probably be delighted that you ruined his car and quiz you on making his cars better. Don’t stay up too late now kid.”

“Curfew at ten-thirty,” he sing-songed. “I know.”

“If only you actually followed it.” Tony affected a severe look. 

Peter grinned at him and rolled his eyes. “JARVIS reminds me, I can’t forget.”

Tony looked at Peter fondly, watching him turn back to his project. At this moment, it felt like nothing was wrong: Peter was just a normal kid, working on a school project, and he didn’t have to think about the dangers of the world. Tony wanted this to last forever. He wished that Peter never had to face the reality and fate of the supernatural world; he wished that Peter could have been a regular kid so that he didn’t have to know any of that.

But he did, and Tony felt like he failed him. Tony should have been strong enough to protect Peter from all of that. He wasn’t though, because he was only an Omega werewolf with no say in what he could or couldn’t do himself. He still depended on his Alpha, and his Alpha always had the last word. It broke his heart to see that, under all of the brilliance and joy Peter had, there was still a fear in which he couldn't protect Peter from either his own Alpha, or from the rest of the world.

Now that he was thinking about it, it was only with reluctance that Tony left his charge behind, forcing himself to move towards the front where Happy was waiting outside. There was nothing he could do now, especially with the fact that Obie wanted him at the gala.

“What’s the status of the Human Rights Act?” Tony asked Pepper. “Was it sent over?”

“I received the documents from Senator Stern, and it is in JARVIS’s database for your perusal,” Pepper replied. “In addition, there are also papers for you to sign regarding R and D that are due by Monday night.”

Tony entered the car and looked towards where Pepper stood by the car door. “So some light reading and signatures,” he said wryly. Pepper grimaced in return. They both knew it was otherwise, and the Bill was going to be a hard one. No matter how hard SI lobbied, they were definitely going to go against the whole populace. “It’ll be done by the end of Sunday, maybe, hopefully, if I don’t get inspired. Will that be all, Miss Potts?”

“That will be all, Mister Stark,” she said. “Enjoy the gala.”

Tony grimaced. Yeah, Pepper was right. Coming back from the brink of death would never change the fact that he still hated galas with a passion. It was a waste of time, when he could be doing other things. As Happy drove them to the gala, Tony dragged his phone out, staring at the darkened screen. He dreaded reading the Bill - it would bore nothing good for the supernaturals. But he had to. He had to face that fear; if he didn’t, Peter would surely suffer worse fate than if he didn’t interject and lobby for better rights.

Because as much as he believed that the supernatural world needed checks and balances, what they would be surely passing would be more oppression than justice, and he couldn’t let those he cared about face that. He had to fight it, as much as he could. If not for himself, then for Peter.

He couldn’t do it; he couldn’t bear reading his demise right now. His heart thumped hard in his chest, and he slipped his phone back in his pocket as Happy slowed, and then stopped, the car. “Have a great time, boss,” Happy called out.

“You know how much I love these things,” Tony grumbled, opening the door to the cacophony and the flashing lights.

“Exactly why I said have fun!” followed him as he shut the door and plastered his media-winning smile to the world. Tony spared a moment to roll his eyes before he buttoned his suit and walked up the red carpet. The opulence was utterly grating, completely opposite of what he had experienced merely a week ago. The shouts hurt his sensitive ears - although he couldn’t shift, he was still a werewolf by blood, and it was never pleasant to face the crowd under blinding lights with hypersensitive senses.

He made his way up into the building, but it wasn’t quickly enough. Goosebumps prickled up his arms, and he felt like a lab rat, examined by everybody. He hated his celebrity status, the fact that everyone was watching him, greeting him, talking behind his back.  _ They _ didn’t know that he could hear their whispers and their gossip, and he wasn’t inclined to tell them. It would be deadly for him to tell them. With a heavy, silent exhale, he pushed his way past acquaintances greeting him, barely shaking their hands before moving away. He couldn’t do this - it was too much. He wanted his Alpha.

Tony slipped through the doors. It was quieter than the outside, though not by much, it was enough for the throbbing headache behind his eyes to subside. His eyes sharpened in the dim lights, and he sniffed, seeking out a familiar scent that would direct him to…

_ He _ was here. Tony jerked in surprise. He didn’t expect  _ him _ to be here, his mate...Steve Rogers. Captain America. He thought...Steve was still in the Middle East, doing whatever top secret mission he was there for with his team. But honestly, he never dared to check or look after that stint where SHIELD caught him snooping.

Now that Tony knew he was here though, his heart beat faster in nervousness and with helpless anticipation. Steve was his Alpha. Obie may be the pack Alpha, but Steve was his  _ true _ Alpha. His traitorous body couldn’t help but seek out the man, turning sharply to scent the air and find him. The scent of him permeated his nose, and he whimpered slightly, feeling his body react to the nearness of his Alpha.

“Mister Stark,” a voice stopped him in his tracks. It was an unfamiliar, mild-mannered voice, but underlying there was something...compulsory to his tone that made Tony turn. 

Normally, it wouldn’t be enough for Tony to turn at the sound of his name - he only obeyed his pack Alpha.There wasn’t anything that stopped Tony from leaving, yet he couldn’t help but unwillingly look at the man standing there in a sharp suit and bow tie, his right hand holding onto his wrist in front of him. His hair was trimmed short, and he had a small smile on his face. Nothing about him looked special, but Tony knew better. Tony couldn’t scent him at all, which was weird. He had no form of identification besides the fact that he was just...there. Visible.

“May I help you, Mister…” Tony began. His hackles were up. He didn’t know this man, but the fact that he was completely unidentifiable was alarming.

“Agent,” the man corrected. He unlatched his hand from his wrist and extended it out between them. “Agent Coulson from the Supernatural Hunters Investigation, Elimination, and Logistics Division.”

Tony looked at the hand suspiciously, but Agent Coulson was unwavering even when the silence became long and awkward between them. It was a losing battle: the agent seemed to have infinitely more patience than he did. Finally, Tony reached up and grabbed his hand, shaking it once before dropping it. It wasn’t soon enough. “What can I do for you, Agent?”

“We sent a message to you last week,” he said simply. Tony frowned, wracking his brains for a moment. The past week was a blur, full of tasks and paperwork and meetings. He barely slept because everyone demanded his attention. Obie especially, and Tony couldn’t ever say no to him.

The agent seemed to be expecting that though, if the knowing look in his eye was anything to go by. He prompted, “You stole some files from our database.”

_ Oh. _ “I deleted the file,” Tony said weakly. It was a weak lie; he read through Steve Roger’s file, memorized it, and buried it deep within his servers. And it seemed like Agent Coulson knew it was a lie too, with that small-but-knowing smirk on his face.

“No you didn’t. File seven-four-bravo-charlie-niner-golf-mike-alpha is specifically tagged for its classified nature, and the firewalls that we have on that file are protected by Stark Industries tech. Your tech, more specifically.”

Tony dropped all pretense. They knew enough. “So, you’re the agent SHIELD is sending after me.”

“To talk to you, yes,” Coulson replied simply.

“What do you want?” Tony asked. “I’m only R and D of Stark Industries. I can introduce you to Obie if that’s what you’re looking for, but I’m pretty sure that you already have a contact since you have a contract with us.”

“Playing ignorance is unbecoming of a mind as sharp as yours,” Coulson said. “I think you know that we’re here for you, Mister Stark. You broke into our servers and stole files from a highly classified agency. There are consequences to that. But we’re not here to arrest you, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

“There’s more of you,” Tony said flatly. Then, his eyes flickered away from him, turning around to see if he could spot the others. It was dumb to think so; they’d be too good at their jobs to be caught by someone like him, but he couldn’t help it. He was anxious, cornered by the thought that agents were closing in on him, just moments away from revealing all his dirty secrets. “I have lawyers. You can’t take me away.”

“New York Times had a headline two weeks ago.  _ Killer Strikes Again: five lives, eight months, and a serial killer on the loose,” _ Coulson recited. There was a knowing glance on Agent Coulson’s face when Tony turned back around, and Tony realized that he was one step closer to Tony. Too close. Tony took an alarming step back. He hadn’t even heard the agent  _ move _ , and that was terrifying. Then the words registered in his mind:  _ serial killer. _

Tony was light-headed, his heart beating thumping hard in his chest. Obie  _ said _ he took care of things! It took all of his strength to keep a straight face, breathe with a normal staccato, anything to show that he was unaffected by the news. For  _ they _ weren’t supposed to know anything about what he had done. His tattoos burned at the moment, and he fought to keep his body still. It wouldn’t serve him well to out himself.

“SHIELD investigates all illegal supernatural activity,” Agent Coulson continued like nothing had happened, as if Tony wasn’t fighting an internal battle. Tony felt pinned, trapped, unable to flee from this situation. “If necessary, we take action to correct this activity.”

_ Elimination, Logistics. _ It wasn’t hard to parse through the implications of what Agent Coulson did and what he was accusing Tony of doing. Tony stared at the agent. “Then if you’re not here to arrest me, what are you here for?” He was glad that his voice was level. “I don’t know why you brought up that Times headline, but it really has nothing to do with me. I don’t have anything to say to you. Any accusations against me can be brought up with my lawyers.”

“Doesn’t it though?” Agent Coulson asked. “As I said, ignorance is unbecoming of you. You and I both know the truth, Mister Stark. But that’s not what we’re here for. SHIELD wants to recruit you to be part of a new independent team who will fight for and against the supernatural community.”

“No.” He couldn’t do that. “You’re asking me…”  _ to betray my people, _ he couldn’t say. The less the agent knew, the better. He didn’t know how much Coulson knew; he thought him being a werewolf was a strongly kept secret. It didn’t matter that he was essentially a human now. He was still a werewolf, and he couldn’t betray his alpha. Tony shook his head again for emphasis. “I can’t be part of it. I belong in Stark Industries.”

“We’re here to help,” Agent Coulson said gently. “There’s something going on, way bigger than you might realize, and we need your help as much as we can help you. We know what’s going on with you and Mister Stane, and we can help you get out of that.”

Tony snorted. “Yeah right,” he said. It didn’t matter though, Obie was still his Alpha, and he controlled Tony whether he wanted to or not. “Thank you for your time, Agent, but there’s nothing you can do. And I won’t be part of your little boy band.”

“If you ever change your mind, please contact me.” Agent Coulson held out a small business card between them. Tony wanted to turn it down, but somehow, he felt compelled to take it instead. He stared at it, looking at the heavyweight piece of paper glinting under the soft hallway lights. Tony swallowed. He hoped he wouldn’t ever have to use the number written there. As he pressed his fingers against the embossed words, Coulson spoke again. “Agent Rogers.”

“Agent Coulson,” said a new voice beside him. While Tony didn’t startle this time, the familiar voice and the sweet scent of  _ mate _ had Tony looking at him with wide eyes.

_ Steve Rogers _ was standing right beside him, close enough for Tony to touch. He could feel his body heat rolling off of him, and it smelled like  _ goodwantmateprotect. _ The wolf in him whined, desperately reaching out, wanting to move closer and bury himself in the scent. His fingers twitched, holding himself back from touching him. There was a soft smile on Steve’s face. “Hello again Mister Stark. I’m pleased to see that you’re looking well.” His voice was silken honey, washing over Tony and caressing him.

“Captain Rogers,” Tony managed. “You cleaned up really nicely.”

Rogers grinned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. The suit jacket rode up as the sleeve stretched, and Tony couldn’t help but notice the perfect way the jacket framed his body. “Thanks. Just wearing the uniform, sir.”

“Tony, please.” The resulting brilliant smile on Captain Roger’s face made all Tony’s worries fall away. Under his attention, it was hard to remember that this was the same battle-hardened man who killed Yinsen in Afghanistan. In fact, Tony couldn’t remember any of that at all because all he could think about was  _ matematemate. _ “What brings you by, Captain?”

“Please, call me Steve,” Captain Ro— no.  _ Steve _ replied. “I noticed that you were talking with Agent Coulson and I wanted to introduce myself again under better circumstances.”

Tony wanted to laugh.  _ Better circumstances, _ discounting the fact that SHIELD apparently knew of Tony’s transgressions and were looking to recruit him. But he wasn’t sure how much Steve knew. “I’m fine. Agent Coulson was just telling me about—” Tony looked towards Agent Coulson again, but he was gone.  _ Tony didn’t even hear him leave. _ “He was just right here!”

“Coulson has a tendency to do that,” Steve said, looking towards the empty spot where Agent Coulson had been. “Our spies always look up to him for his ability to appear and disappear at will.”

Tony was sure he looked like a gaping fish. If that was the case, how long had they been watching him without him knowing? Tony wasn’t sure that he wanted to know.

“Are you alright, Tony?” Tony turned to Steve again. Concern was written upon his face. “You look a bit pale.”

Tony swallowed. He wasn’t okay, but Obie would hate it if he showed any signs of weakness. The media would latch onto it and drag SI if they caught wind that their golden boy was not okay. Truth was, he rather had a strong hand guiding him, protecting him. He wanted to be okay with everything. He didn’t want to feel like he had to put on an act.

But he couldn’t. So with the steadiest voice he could manage, he said, “I’m alright.”

While Steve tilted his head slightly, he didn’t push. Tony was glad he didn’t. Instead, Steve said, “In that case, if I may, may I have the next dance with you?” Tony inhaled when Steve placed his hand between them, palm upright. He looked up to see the earnest look on his mate’s face. There was a halo framing his golden locks and with the smile that Steve gave him, Tony just couldn’t help himself.

“Yes,” he breathed, placing his hand in Steve’s hand. For a moment, he could pretend that everything was alright, like his world wasn’t falling around him. He let Steve drag him to the ballroom floor and wrapped his arms around his body. Tony’s heart beat quickly in his chest as he was swallowed by the glittering blue eyes.

As one, they moved perfectly in sync, dancing to the tune that the orchestra played. Engulfed in Steve’s arms, it was too easy to think only about him and his strength.  _ Mine, _ his wolf cried possessively, tail thumping and rolling around. He could be protected, here in Steve’s arms.

Tony wanted to bare his neck, let Steve claim him, bite him, show the world that Tony was  _ his. _ Steve spun him before he pulled him closer, pressing the length of his body against Tony’s. Tony just barely held back a whimper as he smelled lust and want and sex, drowning. Tony wanted more than just a dance. He wanted everything, and he never wanted this to end.

“Drink?” Steve asked when the song ended.

Without wolfsbane, Tony couldn’t get drunk, but he nodded all the same. Anything to stick close to Steve. He followed Steve, appreciating the way Steve glided smoothly in front of him, his suit hugging his body in all the right places. When Steve turned, Tony’s eyes snapped back up from eyeing his ass.

Based on the smirk he was giving him though, Tony wasn’t fast enough. He blushed at being caught out, then blushed harder when Steve gave him an appreciative once-over. He whined under his breath, body reacting to the way Steve dragged his eyes down the length of his body. “On second thought,” Steve said, voice warm and husky, “how about skipping that drink instead?”

Tony was close to panting like a bitch in heat, unable to stop himself from sliding towards Steve and pressing his body against the hard planes of Steve’s torso. Tony shivered as Steve slid his arms around Tony’s waist. Steve’s pupils were completely blown, black nearly swallowing the blue of his iris. Tony was…

His ass was growing wet, slick leaking out as Tony nuzzled at his neck, where the scent of  _ Alpha _ was the strongest and breathed in. He was gone, high from being around his mate, and he  _ wanted. _ “Fuck,” Steve said softly, wrapping his arms around Tony. “Not here though.”

Steve drew away slightly, and the move drew a small whine from Tony’s lips. “Just… let’s go somewhere private,” and Tony blinked. Awareness trickled back in.

“Oh god,” Tony muttered, embarrassed. His cheeks felt hot; he was about to claim his mate in the middle of the ballroom floor where everyone could see, and everyone would be able to figure out that Tony wasn’t human.

Steve was dangerous in more ways than one. Not only did he hunt his kind, he was also the man who could sweep Tony off his feet and make him feel like a  _ bitch, _ desperate and eager for a knot. Tony needed to step back, step away, walk away from all this and save himself. He couldn’t let his guard down, even with his own mate.

But when Steve smiled at him, it was much too easy to fall in love with his mate, and Tony just  _ wanted. _ So, ignoring all warning signs, Tony grabbed Steve’s hand and dragged him away from the ballroom floor, leading him past the crowd and the opulence, focused on his mission. Down the hall, away from the people, away from the music and the noise, he pushed past the first door he could find and pulled Steve in with him. The room was dark, lit only by the waxing crescent, but Tony couldn’t be anymore aware of every inch of his mate’s body. 

Steve growled when Tony pushed him against the door, pressing against the length of his body and surging up to kiss him. It was hot, messy, wild, and  _ it felt so right. _ His wolf howled in pleasure, tail thumping in giddiness as Steve moaned against his mouth, and he slid an arm around Tony’s waist like it belonged there. 

Steve’s cock pressed against the line of his own hard cock, and Tony thrusted forward, throwing his head back and crying out with pleasure. “Please,” Tony begged softly, but he didn’t know what he wanted. He wanted  _ everything. _ Steve shifted, slotting a leg between Tony’s, and he gripped the back of Tony’s neck with his free hand.  _ It felt like home, _ like Alpha, holding him down the way an Omega needed, and Tony pressed his face against Steve’s neck and whined, gripping onto Steve’s jacket like a lifeline. He felt his body going limp with pleasure as Steve’s grip held him there, and his cock throbbed and dripped pre-come.

“What do you want?” Steve whispered, dragging his lips along the curve of Tony’s ear. It made Tony weak-kneed, and it was only because of his death-grip on the jacket that kept him up. He was so wet, ready for a cock in his slick hole. Tony shuddered with pleasure.

“I...uh,” Tony stammered, trying to break through the haze of his pleasure, mouth twitching in an attempt to form words as Steve nipped the skin of his ear. There was a loud keening noise that took him several seconds to realize was coming from him. 

Tony finally gave up trying to hold himself up and folded, kneeling in front of Steve and dragging his hands down to the hem of his pants. He inhaled, smelling the musky scent of Steve’s cock, and his cock throbbed in response. When he looked up with half-lidded eyes, Steve’s mouth was slightly open, swollen and red from their kisses. Deep inside his core surged possessiveness at the sight of his wanton look, and Tony was sure he looked just as wanton. Tony licked his lips to see Steve’s eyes darken further. “I never got to thank you for saving me in Afghanistan,” Tony managed through the haze of his pleasure. It was hard to form words, so deep in the heat of his mate’s scent, but Steve asked him a question. It wouldn’t serve him good to fail him now. “I’d like to thank you now.” His voice was soft, pitch going up as he finished his sentence in a question. Under the tips of Tony’s fingers where they were clutching the hem of Steve’s pants, he could feel the heat like a roaring flame, encompassing him entirely.

He hoped that Steve would take him and use him.

“I was just doing my job,” Steve replied, low and rough. His fingers thread through the curls of Tony’s hair, gripping it and drawing a desperate whine from Tony’s lip. “But you know, a little thank you won’t go unappreciated.”

It was as much of a permission as he could see one. Slowly, oh so slowly, Tony unbuttoned Steve’s trousers, and the smell of Steve’s scent grew stronger as he stripped away the pants, and then the underwear until all that was left was his hard, thick cock bobbing in front of him. Pre-come dribbled out of the slit, and Tony was overcome with the desire to  _ taste. _ Tony leaned forward, tongue stretched out to capture the fluid in his mouth. It was bitter, but it tasted like  _ him. _ His Alpha. The man he wanted and needed. His hole fluttered in want, open and empty, needing his Alpha to claim him so utterly thoroughly.

You look very gorgeous down there, Tony,” Steve growled, and Tony’s eyes flickered up to see the dominant, Alpha look on his face, looking down at him possessively. It made him feel small, and he clutched onto the sides of Steve’s thighs for support. He whined helplessly as Steve combed through his hair, and his cock pulsed Steve leaned over and covered the back of his neck with a strong, sure hold. “I’d love to see your pretty lips wrap around my dick, appreciating it like you want to.”

“Yes,” Tony breathed, eyes dropping down to Steve’s cock again. He wanted to taste again, worship it, be marked as Steve’s. “Please.”

“Go ahead,” Steve encouraged. Tony drew forward, pressing kisses alongside his cock. He smiled as he heard a  _ thunk _ above him and a throaty groan of pleasure. He was glad that Steve was enjoying this. The quiet acceptance and approval meant everything to him. As Tony licked the underside of his cock and flicked his tongue under the frenulum, Steve said, “Beautiful. God, I have to say, the first time I saw you in Afghanistan, you were in that metal suit of armor you had on, and your hair all messed up, and you had dirt streaked across your face, but I couldn’t help but notice your eyes. They were all angry and defiant, like you weren’t broken at all.”

Tony didn’t feel angry now; he felt...exhilarated because he was sucking on Steve’s cock and moaning when precome hit his tongue. Steve moved his hand so that it stroked Tony’s cheek, and Tony looked up as he accepted the swollen cock into his mouth. Steve tasted hot and sweet in his mouth, and he groaned with Steve when he hollowed out his cheeks and sucked. He liked this, this simple pleasure of trying to bring Steve to the edge. Drool dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin. “The mouth on you,” Steve praised through stuttered breaths. Tony drew back slightly, breathing hard through his mouth. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“There’s more to where this comes from,” Tony rasped. Tony was sure he was leaking through the back of his trousers, but he didn’t care, with the way Steve’s scent was encompassing him fully and entirely. He wished that his Alpha’s scent would embed with his own scent, claiming him entirely like he wanted. His cock was so hard, pressing uncomfortably against the zipper, but he didn’t feel the need to wrap his hand around his cock; he  _ needed _ to touch Steve more. Tony brushed his fingers against his inner thighs, savoring the way Steve shuddered under his touch.

“I’m sure, Tony, but you look so pretty down there,” Steve praised. The way he said his name, even, sounded like a lover’s caress. Almost desperately, Tony pressed forward again, bobbing his head up and down Steve’s length, focused on Steve’s pleasure. “I like the way you look with your lips stretched around my cock. And your moans, too. So sweet.” He traced his finger around Tony’s lip, and Tony closed his eyes, savoring the touch. He felt used and loved, the way he never had been able to feel before. When he sucked again, Steve’s hips twitched forward like he wanted to fuck Tony’s mouth and was holding back.

Tony  _ wanted _ Steve to use him, own him like the Alpha he was. Tony whined, coaxing Steve forward with his hands, hoping that Steve would take the hint. “Oh,” Steve huffed. “Is that what you want? For me to fuck your mouth?” Tony nodded, taking all of Steve’s cock into his mouth until his nose was pressed against Steve’s navel and the head of his cock threatened to cut off his airway. He moaned happily when Steve held his cheeks between his hands. “So gorgeous and lovely. You ready?”

It seemed like a long time before Tony could move, but he slowly moved his hands until his palms were resting against the back of Steve’s hands and he relaxed his jaw. He moaned as Steve pulled his hips back, dragging his cock across Tony’s tongue, wet and hot and swollen. Tony ached, but it was a good ache when Steve pushed back into his mouth and fucked into him. This time, the tip pressed against the back of his throat, and Tony choked.

“Oh fuck, are you okay?” Steve drew back completely, stroking along Tony’s jaw. 

Tony whined. He already missed Steve’s cock in his mouth even though his jaw was pleasantly aching and his body was hypersensitive. “I’m fine,” he managed to say, pushing forward again. He just wanted to be claimed.

“Okay, okay,” and Steve pushed back into Tony’s mouth. Tony groaned happily, letting Steve use him. This time, he was ready when Steve’s cock hit the back of his throat. Steve groaned, “Fuck, you feel so good, like you were made to do this.”

Once Steve was fucking him, it didn’t take him long for him to lose his tempo. His breaths stuttered, and Tony reached out to hold onto his waist again. “I’m close,” Steve said breathily, thrusting in once more before pulling out halfway. Come hit Tony’s tongue, bitter and sweet and... _ Alpha. _ He closed his eyes, feeling completely owned as Steve’s cock throbbed on his tongue, and some of it spilled out of his mouth. It was overwhelming enough to send him over the edge until he came in his pants, completely untouched. Tony panted, slumping more heavily into Steve’s hands.

Steve folded until he was eye-to-eye with Tony, and he drew forward to press his lips against Tony’s. Tony groaned as Steve licked his way into his mouth. “That was amazing,” Steve murmured. He pulled away, and already Tony was mourning the loss of Steve’s warmth. He watched as Steve pulled his pants up again, tucking his shirt in place until all that was left of their encounter was a sheen of sweat along his hairline.

Tony felt much more messy. He was completely ruined, his ass so wet with slick, leaking through his pants and onto the floor. His shirt was wrinkled, and he looked up with half-lidded eyes when Steve carded his fingers through his hair again. Tony sighed, leaning into the touch. “Thank you,” Steve whispered, finally drawing back entirely. He slipped through the door, leaving Tony alone in the darkness.

Steve’s warm scent was beginning to fade away, leaving only the aftermath of  _ him _ there. Tony pressed his hand to his lips, feeling pieces of dried come and drool on his skin.  _ Alpha. _ He felt cold and bereft now, here in the silence and the darkness, alone in his thoughts. This had been a terrible idea, letting his wolf take over instead of logic. Steve’s team  _ killed _ Yinsen. They also saved him without knowing that he was a werewolf himself, but it didn’t matter. Tony was playing a dangerous game.

But now that he had his Alpha, he couldn’t  _ not _ want him either. Already he was yearning to see Steve again. Tony inhaled and closed his eyes, smelling of sweat and sex and  _ Steve. _ He hated this; he loved this.

He wasn’t sure that he’d survive this game.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for creepy Obi, def dub-con feelings, but it was to be expected with this world. Sorry. Thanks to anoo for betaing this chapter and making this chapter a lot better. <3

The full moon glittered over the calm waves, and yet the night was anything but calm. Tony stood by the window of the living room, watching as his inevitable doom arrived. His hand hovered over his arc reactor, feeling the deep persistent ache in his chest. His body was still trying to heal the wound, even after being back for a few weeks now, as if it didn’t get the memo that the hole in his chest wouldn’t ever heal, not as long as the wolfsbane-laced shrapnel remained in his chest.

By this point, Tony should have been shifted.

“Mister Stark?” a sleepy voice asked behind him.

Tony inhaled sharply. Without turning, he said, “Peter, you know the rules. You know you shouldn’t be out when it’s the full moon.”

“I know, but—”

“Go back to your room,” Tony snapped. He swung around. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I’m just worried about you!” Peter burst out. “I know you don’t tell me what you do when it’s the full moon, but I’m not dumb either. I know what Mister Stane is making you do.”

Tony could see the tears streaming down Peter’s face, and damn if it didn’t make Tony feel terrible for snapping at his charge. But he needed Peter to stay away, especially when Obie was coming. This life, Tony’s life, shouldn’t be Peter’s, and if Tony could protect Peter as much as he could, he would.

“I know he makes you do bad things,” Peter says. “I know you don’t want me to know—”

“Stop,” Tony said. He couldn’t bear hearing his sins from the mouth of a child. He just  _ couldn’t, _ especially from the kid he was trying to protect.

“I don’t want you to die!”

Tony fell silent, ruminating Peter’s words. He didn’t want to die himself, but the possibility of him not dying was slim because at this moment, he  _ wasn’t shifted. _ That didn’t bode well for Tony, and it wouldn’t bode well for anyone who was close to him. But just as Tony opened his mouth to reply, he heard the sound of tires rolling over the gravel, drawing closer and closer.

It pained him to yell at Peter, but it was for his own safety. He  _ needed _ Peter to be safe. It would agonize him if he wasn’t. “I don’t have time for this. Go back to your room,” Tony growled, trying to assert as much dominance as he could in his voice. It wasn’t much, if any at all. He wasn’t made to order people around in that way.  _ “Now!” _ It was a sharp, echoing crack that sent Peter scurrying away in fear, and already Tony was filled with regret for yelling as the door slammed shut.

But as the car door slammed outside, he pushed all thoughts of him away. He couldn’t afford to think about Peter now, not when Obie was right outside the door. He braced himself, sweaty palms clenched by his side, staring at the front door with growing dread. He didn’t know how mad Obie would be. Tony just knew that he essentially outlived his usefulness.

The door opened silently, slowly revealing the shadowed figure. Already he could sense the utter disappointment emanating from Obie. “You aren’t shifted,” Obie said neutrally. It felt anything but neutral though. When there weren't any intonations in Obie’s voice, Tony knew that he was in trouble. 

“It’s the wolfsbane shrapnel,” Tony said. He mentally cursed upon hearing the slight waver in his voice, the anxiety, the fear of his Alpha with the punishment that was surely to come.

Obie slowly walked over to Tony, coming into the light. The glittering, beady eyes pinned Tony to the spot where he stood, and it felt hard to breathe. “Oh, Tony, Tony,” Obie said softly, coming ever closer. “I had no idea.” Tony wanted to step back and flee, but his feet felt like leaden weights holding him down. He hated the proximity of his Alpha; it felt like ants crawling all over his body. Still, he stayed silent, unmoving, because it was  _ Obie. _

“That’s such a damn shame that you’re not shifted. Your wolf form is absolutely beautiful.” Perhaps Obie was trying to be caring, but it sounded insincere. Obie reached a hand out towards Tony, his palm pressing against his cheek. Tony wanted to shudder. He had never felt Obie’s touch before as a human, only in his shifted form, and it felt violating. He shouldn’t be so disgusted though, for Obie was his pack Alpha. He should have been craving this small touch and gesture because he was so touch-starved by the lack of bonding from his pack. But he felt anything but that.

A whine began to bubble from his throat, a sound of distress, before he tamped it firmly down deep within himself. He couldn’t, shouldn’t, reveal the fact that Obie’s touch was disgusting. It felt all  _ wrongwrongwrong. _ But when Obie frowned and drew his hand back, Tony knew that he didn’t hide his cringe well enough. “I’m sorry,” Tony whispered, although for what, he wasn’t sure. He just knew he needed to apologize.

Slowly, Obie leaned forward, face angled towards his neck. He sniffed, and Tony could feel the rising, dark anger that had begun to emanate from his body. He closed his eyes and swallowed, trying to figure out how to breathe with the oppressing, terrible rage suffocating him. “You imprinted,” Obie muttered darkly, shifting backwards. “You imprinted on a  _ goddamn _ Alpha.” The betrayal in his voice made Tony want to cower and fall to his knees, begging for forgiveness.

“I’m sorry,” Tony repeated.

Obie tilted his head. “You are, aren’t you?” he said softly. “And here I thought you were so eager to get my approval.  _ My _ beautiful omega.”

Tony swallowed again, heart beating out of his chest. His mouth was still dry. Under Obie’s touch, he felt anything but beautiful. Ants crawled down his skin. “You’re my Alpha.” But even as he said it, he knew it wasn’t true. Obie hadn’t been his Alpha since...since...since the time he first met Captain America in the dark cave in Afghanistan.

And it seemed as if Obie knew it too. He said, “Don’t be daft. You never had any love for me as your Alpha.”

“That’s not true,” Tony tried. The words rang hollow.

Obie snorted. “You never really loved me as your Alpha. You think I didn’t notice the way you marked your skin? Burned wolfsbane right into your skin. It shows in your wolf form, you know. I saw every single mark you made on your back, one more darkened stripe on your fur ever since you were  _ so _ eager to please me.”

“It was to remind me that I wasn’t your tool, but I was only fooling myself I guess. You’ve always made me kill when I didn’t want to.”

“But you never said no,” Obie pointed out.

“Because I had no choice!” Tony said. “You knew I couldn’t fight back. You  _ used _ me, every single time, and you said that we wouldn’t be in trouble. I thought I could trust you after Howard and mom died, you said you would, and you just...you made me kill. And you know? It’s clear you don’t care, because  _ New York Times _ featured the murders. They featured  _ me _ when you promised that everything was going to be taken care of.”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Obie said. “We have politicians in our pockets, that goddamn bill won’t pass.”

“There are people out there fighting against us,” Tony protested. “Even  _ you _ can’t fight all the people.”

“Can’t I?” Obie tilted his head. “We’re supernaturals; they don’t have the strength we have. A quarter of the politicians in Capitol Hill are supernaturals themselves, they’re not going to pass a bill that goes against their own nature and cuff themselves down.”

“Perhaps, but you know who else noticed us? SHIELD. They’re tracking me, which means that they’re tracking you too.” As soon as he said that, Tony realized that he said the wrong thing, for Obie’s scent soured horribly, and there was a deep growling that came from him.

“So you know,” Obie said darkly.

“I did my research,” Tony replied, taking a step back. His voice was wavering again. “I thought I trusted you enough that if I did what you asked, you’d keep me and Peter safe enough. Seems like that was all a lie.”

“Foolish boy, so naive, just like your father. You both had too much of a bleeding heart. It’s why I sent you to Afghanistan,” Obie sneered. Tony looked at him. It was now more than ever that he could see the truth of the heartless bastard he was. Obie couldn’t even manage the dignity of pretending to care anymore. “Fucking careless, couldn’t even make a clean kill, and you were attracting too much attention to yourself and to the company. You were useful, I’ll give you that, too willing to do anything just for a pat on the head.”

And there it was, the truth. Tony couldn’t breathe. He thought he could bear hearing any betrayal that came out of Obie’s mouth, but hearing the truth made his stomach curdle. Obie, his  _ Alpha _ tried to kill him. And that was the greatest betrayal of all.

“Come here,” Obie ordered. It made Tony sick to the stomach, the conflict of wanting to obey despite him not being his Alpha anymore, and the refusal to do his bidding. Tony staggered forward one step, then two, stopping himself halfway. It was close enough for Obie to reach out to him regardless. “You still have your use.”

Obie pressed a hand against the hard blue casing of the arc reactor. “I do have to commend you for miniaturizing the arc reactor in the cave. Perfectly ingenious. It’s a complete shame that this shall be your swan song.” Tony whimpered as Obie twisted the arc reactor out of its socket. He couldn’t stop Obie from taking it. He watched helplessly as the arc reactor moved away from his body. He...couldn’t...think. With it gone, his body felt heavy and sluggish. He was missing a part of himself, and already he was feeling the repercussions of that. His knees buckled, and he could already feel the roaring pain from his chest. It  _ hurt, _ hurt more than when the arc reactor held the shrapnel still in his heart. His body was trying and failing to heal the wounds.

Obie caught him on the way down and laid him gently on the floor. “Even if you’re not mine to use anymore, you’re still my omega, eager to please me. Good boy.”

“No!”

_ No, _ Tony wanted to scream when he heard that voice. With a shallow gasp into his struggling lungs, he forced himself to move his head to look at Peter, standing at the edge of the hallway.  _ Leave. Run, and never look back, _ he pleaded silently.

“Don’t you dare touch Mister Stark,” Peter said, stepping forward. “And give that back to him.”

Obie laughed, standing up and pocketing the arc reactor. “You got balls, kid, I’ll give you that. But you are dumber than I thought if you think you can stop me from doing anything I don’t wish to do.”

“No,” Tony forced out through his numb lips.  _ Don’t touch him. _

“Tony can’t protect you now,” Obie mocked Peter, turning back to look down at Tony. Tony gasped shallowly, and he felt weak, powerless, unable to move under his gaze. “He was the one protecting you, you know. Whored himself out so in exchange I wouldn’t touch you. But he’s outlived his usefulness now.”

“Don’t talk about him like that,” Peter spat.

“What?” Obie sneered. “You know, phoenixes are rarer and more useful than werewolves. Tears that heal, nearly indestructible, resurrection powers, makes me wonder how your powers can be tested.”

“I’m no lab rat. Mister Stark isn’t either. Get away from him and give me back what is rightfully his!”

“Or what? You’re gonna fight me? You have no way of fighting an Alpha werewolf. Take a tip from me boy, keep your mouth shut or else it’ll get you into trouble. Just like how Tony couldn’t keep his mouth shut. I won’t be so kind next time.” Obie began to walk away.

Tony could see the moment Peter stepped over the line of no return with the way he scrunched his face up in determination. “No!” Tony gasped, just as Peter transformed into his phoenix form. Tony watched in horrified desperation as Peter flew forward, screeching and flaming, coasting forward to attack Obie. Peter was too young and inexperienced, there was no way he could fight a full-grown werewolf. And Obie wasn’t kind at all, not even towards hot-headed teenagers. Time slowed down as Tony watched Peter open his beak, claws extended, ready to fight the Alpha.

And in one smooth motion, Obie casually dodged the attack and backhanded Peter into the wall. He didn’t even shift. “I told you, you wouldn’t be able to fight me. You’re just a kid. Give you a few years, and you might have a chance—”

Peter pulled himself out from the plaster and turned, ready to attack again, but Obie moved more quickly, pinning Peter into the wall by the neck and squeezing. “Don’t interrupt while I’m talking,” Obie hissed. “I thought it was easier to let you grow a few years and come into your powers fully before I take you, but you are just proving yourself more than annoying.”

Peter screeched angrily, struggling in Obie’s grasp. Obie snorted, tightening his grip around his neck. “Can’t even expel flames yet. Pathetic.”

Tony needed to  _ move, _ or else Peter would surely die. Pain radiated throughout his body as he forced himself to turn over, moaning weakly as newfound pain stabbed him in the heart. With the movement, Obie looked over towards him. “So stubborn,” he said casually.

“Don’t...touch...him,” Tony gasped, crawling an inch at a time. He felt too weak to move, but for Peter’s sake…

“You both really are a thorn in my side. It’s much too bad that I can’t kill you. Got a warning already once for trying and failing. They want you both alive, but honestly? Both of you are better off dead. But with this kid here—” Obie turned back towards the phoenix. Peter was gasping, falling limp at the fact that he couldn’t breathe “—at least he can regenerate, but I wonder at what cost?”

“Obie...you...promised,” Tony tried again.

“That I wouldn’t touch him while you were useful,” Obie agreed. “But now that you’re not, I see no need to play nicely. So let this be a lesson to you Tony: don’t get in my way.”

Suddenly there was a ball of bright light and a loud cry. As much as Tony tried to face it, it was much too bright and too hot. Roaring heat filled the room. “Peter!” he shouted. The fire drowned out the sound of his cry.

The sprinklers turned on and doused the room in water. Tony whimpered. He failed. He failed the person he promised to protect. With a wet gasp, he staggered towards the stairs. Water intermingled with the ash on the floor, all that was left of Peter. Tony sobbed, clutching it. “JARVIS, stop the sprinklers.”

The sprinklers stopped.

“Call Agent Coulson,” Tony said between dry sobs. He was still in shock at the sudden loss of Peter, but he knew it would be too soon that the grief would hit him.

“Yes, sir.” JARVIS sounded subdued, but Tony barely noticed as tears dripped to the floor. He didn’t know that he could ache even more with a whole in his heart, but with the loss of Peter, somehow there was more pain to bear.

Obie had been long gone since the explosion, and all that was left was the  _ drip, drip, _ drip of water droplets falling from the ceiling. Tony bowed his head, eyes closing in utter misery.

“Mister Stark?”

“He killed him,” Tony choked. “Obie, oh my god. He killed the kid.” He was so tired - all of his work, all of the sacrifices that he made, wiped out in a single moment. There was blood on his hands, and he could never wash them off. Tony closed his eyes, pressing his fingers to the waterlogged ash, breaths stuttering from the fiery pain from the hole in his chest.

Agent Coulson was still speaking, but he was too tired now, energy completely sapped. He laid his head in the water, dozing off to the mildly frantic voice from overhead.

He didn’t know how much time passed when he came back to himself. He wasn’t laying on the floor anymore. He felt weightless, rather, and a side of his body was pinned to a broad chest. His head tucked into someone’s neck. Tony inhaled, breathing in the scent of comfort, feeling like, for just a moment, everything was alright. With a sigh, he nuzzled the neck absently before he slipped back into a haze of pain.

He hovered under the surface, not quite awake, but not quite full unconsciousness either as he felt himself be moved. There was a thought in the back of his mind, feeling as if he should be more concerned about being transported to somewhere new and different. The quiet wolfwithin him, however, was wagging his tail happily, completely unconcerned about the possible danger he could be in.

But Tony himself, in his human form, couldn’t help but feel like he was surrounded by his home. He just didn’t need to fight the pain; someone else could protect him. As it was, the warm body continued to press against him, even as the warm wall of chest shifted.

“You can lay him down. It’ll probably be more comforting to him anyway,” a voice said, it sounded as if it was coming from very far away.

But the thought of being placed out of reach from this comfort was too much to bear. He whimpered softly. The arms that held him stiffened, then squeezed him tightly, pressing him closer to the warm heart.

“It’s okay,” his safety net rumbled. “It’s not too much of a big deal to hold him.” A hand drifted up to press a palm against his head. 

“Suit yourself Cap.”

It was a comforting cocoon that he was in, pressed up against the warm body and tucked under the chin of his home. He dozed a while longer, feeling safe and feeling like he was whole again. It was enough to distract him from the paralyzing pain from the hole in his chest.

Tony was picked up again, one armed tucked under his knees, the other behind his back. They were moving again.

“Director Fury wants to see you. The medical team is here to take over.” The voice sounded familiar, but in his semi-unconscious state, he did not have the wherewithal to figure out who the voice belonged to.

Tony was placed onto a bed and the safety that held him moved away. As soon those hands stopped touching him, it felt as if he was cold and alone again with nothing to tether him. At that moment, pain flared in Tony’s chest, and he let out a terrible cry, arching his back as the shrapnel shifted. It felt like it was tearing him to pieces. Perhaps it was. Tony couldn’t breathe with the roaring fire in his body.

Someone was screaming, and a distant part of his mind realized that perhaps it was him. But he couldn’t tell because all that was left for him was him falling,

falling,

falling,

into darkness.

* * *

Tony awoke in stages, slipping in and out of consciousness. He didn’t want to wake, but something was prodding him until he had no choice but to follow it. His body hurt, but it was no longer in agonizing pain like before, despite the shrapnel tearing him apart. He felt sore still, but he could breathe more easily.

Slowly, Tony blinked awake and inhaled the distinctive smell of hospital disinfectant. It felt much too soon that he was back in a hospital again, having only been here merely three weeks prior with that stint in Afghanistan; he didn’t want to be back in this situation so soon.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Mister Stark,” said a voice beside him.

Tony was tired enough to merely blink and turn his head. “Agent Coulson,” he said wearily. “Can’t say it’s good to see you.”

“Less than ideal circumstances,” he agreed, “but it was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before Stane showed his hand.”

Tony sat up abruptly at the statement. His body protested at the sudden movement. “Obie!” he gasped. He’d forgotten, and everything began to fell into place. His heart constricted. Oh god,  _ Peter. _ “The kid.”

“Calm down,” Coulson said placidly. “He’s not dead. He’s just in the other room. Stop moving, we barely got you back from death with the hole in your chest. You’re lucky that Peter managed to steal back your arc reactor before Stane fled.”

“I need to see him,” Tony said. He struggled, fighting through the swathes of blankets covering him. He didn’t know if Peter was alive or dead, but Peter was his responsibility. He needed to see him.

But Coulson was right there, forcing him back into the bed. Tony should fight more, but the struggle simply to get up seemed to have drained out of him until he slumped back into his bed, exhausted. “You’re in no shape to go anywhere, Mister Stark. I’ll bring him over.”

Coulson hadn’t even moved when the door opened. “Agent Romanoff, nice of you to join us,” he said, still looking at Tony. “However, I wasn’t finished debriefing him.”

Agent Romanoff strode forward. “He was eager to drop by when I told him that Stark was awake. I found it prudent to keep him from waiting any longer. Debrief can wait, Coulson.”

In her hands was a small bird, its coat fiery red. “Peter,” Tony whispered. He reached out towards him, hands shaking in wonder. “He’s not dead.”

“He’s a phoenix,” Agent Romanoff said flatly. She placed the small bird in his hands. Peter blinked up and chirped, flapping his wings once before he settled. “It’s really hard to kill phoenixes.”

Tony brought Peter closer to his chest. “I know that, but still.” He stroked the soft fur, watching the feathers shift and glow like a crackling flame. “He’s much smaller now.”

“Rebirths take a lot of energy,” Coulson said. “Too many can shorten his lifespan significantly.”

“And you said he saved me?”

“The blue light you have in your chest,” Coulson pointed out, “was beside Peter when we found you two. But we think that you stayed stable enough because of Agent Rogers.”

“Who?” Tony asked blankly.

There was a slight smile on his face when Coulson said, “Captain America.”

With the drop of the bomb, Tony’s body chilled. Captain America...his mate. It always sent a shock to his system. He never knew whether one Captain America was good news or bad news, with his conflicting emotions towards...everything really. From being a witness to Yinsen’s murder to fucking Tony’s face, Tony just couldn’t place him in his mind. He loathed Steve Rogers, yet he wanted him too. “Oh,” Tony said in a small voice. He didn’t know what else to say. Was he here?

“He’d been stopping by between trainings,” Agent Romanoff explained, voice knowing. “He was concerned.”

“Oh,” Tony said again, but his hand began to crawl towards the arc reactor.  _ They _ touched it, the thing that kept the shrapnel from moving in his heart, and it was a prospect that he didn’t particularly like. It was too close to comfort.

“You bonded with him,” Coulson said. It wasn’t even a question. “We had our suspicions when we took a look at your chest. Wolfsbane shrapnel, right by the heart. They should have moved when that blue light was not in your chest, wasn’t it. But Captain America somehow kept that from happening.”

“He doesn’t know, does he?” Tony asked.

“He doesn’t know that you bonded with him,” Agent Romanoff affirmed, “but he seems to have a certain connection with you. He’s quite taken with you.”

“Anyone with two pairs of eyes can see that Agent Romanoff,” Coulson said, “but she’s right though. He likes you, but he doesn’t know why he’s drawn to you. In fact, he doesn’t know the nuances of the supernatural instincts and behaviors.”

“But he works with you,” Tony said.

Coulson let out a barely audible sigh. Even Tony’s hearing could barely catch the noise. “Captain America is good at fighting for his country and excellent at hunting down the supernatural when they go rogue. But what he isn’t good at hiding is the fact that he despises us. He hates us because we have more talents than what a regular human could ever have. He doesn’t know that we’re supernatural, and we’d like to keep it that way. He’s damn good at his job, and whether he likes it or not, he still needs our help. So we provide that backup for him, but we damn sure don’t tell him that because we’ll never know if he might betray us. We need him.”

So Tony was right: Steve was complicit to Yinsen’s murder. And he was still Steve’s mate. Tony wanted to cry in despair. He wasn’t going to survive this. He clutched Peter more tightly. “You’re keeping secrets from him. How well is that going?” Tony asked tiredly.

“Agent Romanoff is a seer, so better than you might think,” Coulson said. “We do what needs to be done in order to keep everyone safe, both for the humans and for the supernaturals. We’re aware that we have a reputation, but you know as well we do that normal prisons can’t hold the supernaturals.”

“Best way is to kill them permanently. But I’m not a killer though.” Tony’s wolfsbane tally marks said differently, but really, it wasn’t his choice.

“We know. But you are the closest to Stane.”

Tony frowned. “He fled though. I don’t know where he is. I’m practically useless.”

“Are you though?” Coulson asked. “You were his omega ever since your parents died, so you have that connection with him. We need you. There is unrest in our world. Stane is part of it, and in connection, you have a certain proximity to this whole situation as well. You know more than you let on.”

Tony opened his mouth to speak again, but Romanoff butted in, “Does HYDRA ring a bell to you?”

“Wasn’t that the Nazi group that Cap was fighting?” Tony asked.

“They’re more than Nazis these days,” Romanoff said. “They’re trying to control and assert dominance in the supernatural world, and by extension, rule over the non-supernaturals. We’re trying to stop it. Co-habitat peacefully if you will.”

“And Stane’s part of HYDRA,” Tony concluded. “You want me to work for you, even though I’m barely a werewolf as it is. I can’t even shift.”

“You still have your brain. We could still use you for this fight.”

“What if my answer hadn’t changed, and I don’t want to fight your battles?” Tony asked softly.

Coulson said, “SHIELD won’t force you to fight, but we will still extend our protection to you. Stane’s not the only one who wants you dead or alive. What you have right there, your phoenix—”

“—Peter.”

Coulson continued as if he wasn’t interrupted, “—is one of the rarest supernaturals and prized extraordinarily highly because of their powers. Anyone would want him as a prize.”

“He isn’t a prize to be won,” Tony snarled, clutching Peter more tightly to his chest. It made his chest ache, but it was a minor twinge compared to the thought of Peter being a lab rat.

“We know,” Coulson appeased. “It’s why you’re under our protection, whether or not you want it. HYDRA wants him and would do anything to get him. With your help, it’ll be easier to do our jobs, and I’m sure you want to protect him too.”

“Rogers is here,” Natasha said suddenly, and the door slid open.

Instinctively, Tony’s eyes snapped to the man standing in front of the entryway. He could see Steve scanning the room before finally settling his gaze back at him. “You’re awake,” Rogers said, stepping closer to his bed. “Natasha, Coulson. I hope I haven't interrupted anything.”

“You haven’t. We are just about to leave,” Coulson said. “Mister Stark, please do consider our proposal. Rogers, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Steve and Tony watched as Romanoff and Coulson departed, slipping quietly through the door. Once the door shut, Steve turned back and asked, “How are you doing? How’s your chest?”

Tony looked down, seeing the blue glow of his arc reactor peeking out from underneath Peter’s head. “I’m okay,” Tony said softly. “Doesn’t hurt as much as before.”

“That’s good.” Steve sounded relieved. “I was worried.”

“Please, I survived the Ten Rings and was in the process of extracting myself before you came along. I don’t need a knight in shining armor to save me. Or a red, white, and blue costume in this case,” Tony said. “What are you wearing, lycra? What the hell, does it even protect you?” Once Tony’s mind caught up to his mouth, he blushed. He should be more scared, what with the way Steve was a wild horse.

But Steve’s concern and care felt genuine, enough that it soothed Tony’s wariness. He shouldn’t lower his guard, but being around Steve made it difficult. He did feel safe enough to do so, even though his mind told him he shouldn’t.

Steve gave him a slight smile. “I heal easily,” he said, unconcerned, although his fingers drifted to the rip above his pec, and Tony’s eyes drifted to the motion. 

“You should have something more substantial than that. SHIELD couldn’t even give you Kelvar?” Tony demanded. It should be horrifying that SHIELD gave Captain America a show outfit for missions, but his mind was already drifting to the thoughts of peeling that goddamn costume off of him and…

He should stop thinking about it, especially while Peter was still on his chest. He barely remembered that he was still there and he felt overheated with the way Steve was looking at him meaningfully.

“If you’re offering to make me a suit that’s more substantial,” Steve said, “I’d be happy to wear it.”

Steve was bad for him, Tony decided. He was thinking about how the new suit would wrap around the bulging muscles, hugging every inch of his skin, but also protecting him. Tony was sizing him, eyes roving over Steve’s body, lingering at his crotch area. It was hard to forget the way Steve fucked his mouth in the darkness, the encompassing scent of him pressing down on him, making him feel safe and warm for just a few moments.

He hated that he wanted that feeling again. Already Steve’s scent wafted over, and smelling his warm scent made him feel sleepy. He yawned. “Let’s table that discussion for next time.”

Steve hummed. “I’ll be holding you to that promise then.” He stepped closer and his fingers twitched as if he was holding back from touching Tony. Tony felt the same way - he wanted to reach out to Steve and never let him go. He settled on looking at the piercing blue eyes instead. Steve said, “Get some sleep. I’ll see you later.”

Combined with the comforting weight of Peter on his chest, Tony’s eyes slipped closed.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a [tumblr](https://athletiger.com/)! Come say hi!


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